Interpersonal behavior and therapeutic progress: therapists and clients rate themselves and each other

Abstract

To measure the extent to which progress in psychotherapy can be predicted from the interpersonal styles of therapists and clients, 42 outpatients and their 11 therapists rated themselves and each other on Benjamin's Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB) scales. In addition, therapists rated amount of client change and therapy success-failure, based on the outcome section of the Rogers and Dymond (1954) scale, and clients used the Strupp, Fox, and Lessler (1969) questionnaire to evaluate progress-to-date. Clients also completed the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL) at the start of therapy and after they had completed at least 6 treatment sessions. Canonical analyses indicated that when optimally weighted, SASB scores can predict at least 65% of the reported progress variance, lending credence to claims that "reflexive social behavior" and "the relationship" are important determinants of certain aspects of therapeutic outcome. Consistent with previous literature, clients reported more satisfaction with therapy when they perceived their therapists as "warm and freeing," but such perceptions were not systematically related to reported symptom reduction. Unfavorable self-concept ratings by therapists and therapist ratings of clients as "helping or protecting," which suggest role reversal, were negatively associated with symptom amelioration.