Sampling from the recorded therapy interview: The problem of segment location.

To provide some evidence regarding the relative information value of different methods of sampling from the recorded individual psychotherapy interview, patient Experiencing (EXP) ratings were obtained for 5 successive 8-min. portions of 1 therapy hour for each of 24 patients (8 schizophrenics, 8 neurotics, and 8 normals). The results show a significantly different linear trend of EXP ratings over the therapy hour for the neurotic, in contrast to both the schizophrenic and normal groups. These results, suggesting greater between-group differentiation as the interview progresses, are discussed in terms of their implications for sampling procedures in psychotherapy research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of verbal reinforcement with information feedback in analogue psychotherapy

Thirty Ss were assigned randomly to one of the two experimental analogue psychotherapy groups and a control group. In the experimental psychotherapy groups two different psychotherapy techniques were used for eight sessions. The two psychotherapy techniques employed were one-word verbal reinforcement (VR) and lengthy verbal information feedback (IF). Three therapists each demonstrated significant differences (P less than .001) in their verbal interactions with the Ss when they used the two different psychotherapy techniques. The results indicated that both treatment techniques were significantly effective (p less than .05) in improving self-ratings of self-concept. However, the two psychotherapy techniques were differentially effective in improving social skills as measured by behavioral ratings.     

Sampling from the recorded therapy interview: A comparative study of different segment lengths.

To assess the effect of variations in the length of segments sampled from individual psychotherapy recordings on ratings of patient Experiencing (EXP) (a dimension of Process), judges' ratings of 2-, 4-, 8-, and 16-minute segments drawn from 2 points (early and late) in therapy with psychotics, neurotics and normals are compared. The results indicate: interrater and rerate reliabilities are unaffected by segment length: the scale range covered does not vary as a function of segment length; the absolute level of Experiencing (EXP) ratings tends to be a positive function of segment length, but the relative ordering of individuals and the ability of the scale to reflect change in EXP is not related to variations in segment length. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some intentions are observable.

In discussing the relation of therapist intentions to verbal response modes (VRMs), Hill and O'Grady (1985) confused two senses of the term intention—(a) the private purpose of an intervention and (b) the meaning of the utterance, which is on record in the sense that the speaker accepts responsibility for saying it. Hill and O'Grady's list of intentions contained purposes, and they correctly pointed out that researchers' most direct access to these is by the speaker's self-report. VRM codes concern intended meaning, which goes beyond grammatical structure or literal meaning. Nevertheless, VRM codes reflect a level of communication that is intrinsically public in the following sense: The coder is in the same logical position as the communication's intended audience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disabuse of the drug metaphor: Psychotherapy process-outcome correlations.

The drug metaphor suggests that if a process component (e.g., interpretation) is an active ingredient of a successful psychotherapy, then administering a relatively high level of it should yield a relatively positive outcome, and levels of the process component and the outcome should be correlated across clients. Measures of 5 theoretically relevant, reliably measured verbal process components were compared with the rate of change in 3 standard symptom intensity measures across the brief treatments of 39 (mainly depressed) psychotherapy clients. The expected significant process-outcome correlations were not found. These results are discussed as they illuminate some misleading assumptions that underlie many conventional studies of psychotherapy process and outcome. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A-B variable and reactions to nonimmediacy in neurotic and schizoid communications: A longitudinal analogue of psychotherapy.

Selected 36 A- and 36 B-type male undergraduates from the scores of 225 Ss on a 19-item version of the A-B scale. Ss responded verbally and therapeutically to neurotic and schizoid videotaped enactments displaying improvement, no change, and deterioration over the course of psychotherapy and exhibiting high and low conditions of verbal nonimmediacy in their communications to the therapist. A types were more immediate with the schizoid, and Bs with the neurotic, communications. Results concerning the longitudinal response to the changing display of nonimmediacy were equivocal, but subjective reaction conformed to expectancies and there was other, indirect support for the longitudinal hypothesis. Substantive conclusions are drawn concerning verbal nonimmediacy in relation to therapist-patient compatability-incompatability and as a potential intrachannel process variable in psychotherapy. The nonimmediacy model is confirmed and extended in a complex, ongoing, dyadic interaction. (24 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The nature of nondirective group psychotherapy. An experimental investigation.

Reviews the book, The nature of nondirective group psychotherapy. An experimental investigation by Leon Gorlow, Erasmus L. Hoch, and Earl F. Telschow (1952). This study was designed to investigate with quantitative precision various parameters of the process of nondirective group psychotherapy. Acknowledging the tentative, exploratory nature of the investigation, the authors outline a threefold objective: (a) analysis of the uniformity of group patterns of verbal behavior as a function of variables like time, differing membership, and leadership; (b) delineation of the therapeutic value of the group, per se; and (c) evaluation of the role of the group leader. This book is successful in providing interesting hypotheses and techniques for analyzing protocols. The limitations of its experimental design, however, prevent an evaluation of either the unique characteristics or therapeutic value of nondirective group psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal conditioning of value-related material.

Studied verbal conditioning as a function of the interaction between content of stimulus material and S's personal value orientation. 2 groups of 20 undergraduates each were conditioned to select words either consistent or inconsistent with their value orientations as measured by the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values. 20 additional Ss were conditioned to select words unrelated to values. As predicted, those Ss conditioned to select words consistent with their value orientations produced a steeper acquisition curve than those Ss conditioned to select inconsistent words. However, there was no difference between the acquisition curves of the former group and the control group. Results are related to verbal conditioning in psychotherapy. It is suggested that the therapist who plans to use such a tool should consider the personal and relational aspects of the therapeutic process as important determinants of conditionability. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlations of male college students' verbal response mode use in psychotherapy with measures of psychological disturbance and psychotherapy outcome.

Compared verbal response mode use by 31 male college student clients in 3 sessions of time-limited psychotherapy (selected from an average of 17.2 sessions) with measures of clients' psychological distress, disturbance, and change, which were gathered at intake, termination, and 1-yr follow-up as part of the Vanderbilt Psychotherapy Project. Results show that (a) clients who were more distressed tended to use a higher percentage of Disclosures (revealing subjective information) and a lower percentage of Edifications (conveying objective information), perhaps reflecting greater preoccupation with inner troubles; and (b) clients who improved more were those who participated more, as measured by their estimated total number of utterances, a product of talking more in each session and remaining in therapy for more sessions; but (c) there was no relationship between clients' percentage of Disclosures and their improvement in psychotherapy, as hypothesized, even though percentage of Disclosures was correlated with process ratings of intrapsychic exploration. (58 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conditioning of verbalization: A review.

Recent research in the conditioning of verbal behavior offers support to a learning-theory interpretation of changes that may occur in psychotherapy. Manipulation of awareness states, use of verbal conditioning as an independent variable, and effect of the reinforcement history of S in verbal conditioning experiments are being explored in relevance to controlled and measurable modification of verbal behavior. Evidence is accumulating that the generalization of an experimentally acquired verbal response is a function of the common cue-producing properties of the several classes of which it may be a member. (2-p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reflective-functioning during the process in brief psychotherapies.

Reflective-functioning (RF) is the ability to recognize the existence and nature of mental processes taking place in the self and in others (e.g., intentions and wishes). RF was investigated here as a patient variable during the process in two studies of brief psychotherapy. The first study investigated cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) in the TDCRP sample. The second study investigated psychodynamic psychotherapy (BPDT). The Psychotherapy Process Q-set (PQS) was implemented to identify process correlates associated with high and low RF in order to distinguish which specific components in the psychotherapeutic process are related to RF. Process correlates defining high RF had good outcome, and process correlates defining low RF had poor outcome. RF remained stable or decreased during treatments and was linked with personality characteristics in the patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Establishment of praise as a reinforcer in chronic schizophrenics.

Studied the effectiveness of a method of altering the reinforcing properties of the verbal event good in 54 male 20-55 yr old chronic, process, nonparanoid schizophrenics. In agreement with previous research, good was ineffective in a verbal conditioning and in a reaction time task for these Ss. However, when good was repeatedly paired with the termination of censure in the reaction time task, it became an effective reinforcer on a subsequent verbal conditioning task. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Number of verbal interrelationships as a determinant of group size.

By measuring the frequency of verbal interactions in groups of various sizes (from 5-6 to 19-20), it was observed that although the average number of interactions tended to increase with the size of the group, the percentage of relationships showed an almost linear negative relationship with size, with crucial decrements in percent of verbal interactions occurring when groups are beyond 7-8 and again at 15-16. Results are related to formation of groups for psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal processes on psychological radio call-in programs: Comparisons with other help-intended interactions.

We describe the verbal process of program hosts and callers during call-in psychology interviews; we measured the similarity of these interactions with other help-intended interactions, and we assessed the compatibility of hosts' verbal behavior with prescribed ethical guidelines. Radio interviews with 30 callers were recorded from each of 6 programs broadcast in major American cities. Hosts' and callers' verbal response modes (VRMs) were coded and compared with the VRMs used in psychotherapy, university settings, and medical interviews. Hosts' VRMs most resembled those of rational-emotive therapists and those of physicians in the conclusion segment of medical interviews. Callers' VRMs most resembled those of clients in cognitive-behavioral therapy. The results call into question the viability of the distinctions made in current ethical guidelines governing psychologists' behavior on such programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Two Contradictory Assumptions Underlying Prognosis and Movement with Psychotherapy.

This note has relevance to the expected disagreement which may appear when various prognostic measures are compared with each other. The same remarks apply when methods of measuring movement in psychotherapy are compared with each other instead of with a criterion of improvement such as staff judgment. It is hoped that this note will stimulate examination of why different methods of judging prognosis or judging movement in psychotherapy may not correlate highly with each other, instead of permitting the conclusion that there is nothing of value in them because they do not agree with each other. We must consider whether we are basing our judgments of good prognosis on the amount of assets of the patient or on the amount of deficits of the patient. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)