Charlie Gelso (born November 27, 1941, in Pittston, Pennsylvania; died October 7, 2025, in Laurel, Maryland) was a transformative figure in counseling psychology. He was a gifted scholar, teacher, and mentor. Charlie's scholarship centered on the psychotherapy relationship. Another major strand of Charlie's influence was methodology and research training. His widely cited work clarified core research design choices and introduced his popular "bubble hypothesis," the idea that solving one methodological problem invariably creates another. Charlie was one of the first to study the effects of time-limited counseling, developing models and measures that facilitated subsequent research. Charlie Gelso's legacy endures in the journals he helmed, the methodological clarity he modeled, and the many mentees he launched. Above all, he taught that psychotherapy's real relationship-grounded in genuineness and human connection- belongs at the center of the therapy process. It was also at the center of Charlie's personal and professional life, and we are eternally grateful to have had a real relationship with him. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Hill et al. (Mon,) studied this question.