Clients' pretherapy interpersonal attitudes and psychotherapy outcome.

Investigated whether 55 outpatient counseling clients' (aged 16–57 yrs) pretherapy scores on affiliation–hostility and dominance–submission dimensions of the Interpersonal Check List (ICL) would be related to outcome of therapy. Ss, who received an average of 24 sessions, completed the ICL both pre- and posttherapy. Ss whose therapy was successful, as rated by both therapist and client, were significantly more affiliative (less hostile) than were less-than-successful therapy clients both pre- and posttherapy. 21 of 29 Ss whose predominant pretherapy interpersonal stance was characterized as affiliative had successful outcomes, whereas only 10 of 26 Ss whose predominant pretherapy interpersonal stance was characterized as hostile had successful outcomes. No significant differences were observed between outcome groups on the dominance–submission dimension either pre- or posttherapy. However, as expected, a significant number of successful therapy Ss showed a pre- vs posttherapy shift in their interpersonal stances from submission to dominance. Results highlight the reported difficulty of short-term dynamic psychotherapy with hostile clients and suggest the importance of assessing clients' pretherapy interpersonal attitudes as 1 influence on therapeutic process and outcome. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stage differences in the dependencies of topic initiation and topic following behavior.

I examined the topic initiation/topic following sequence data from the beginning, middle, and late stages of 16 counseling dyads (a successful and less successful dyad from each of eight counselors). I hypothesized that the beginning, middle, and end of successful counseling would demonstrate different patterns of dependency in the sequence data. Client and counselor topic initiation and topic following behavior was examined by using loglinear analysis to see the extent to which they varied because of the previous behavior of the other participant (interchain dependency), their own previous behavior (intrachain dependency), outcome (determined by a composite of client and counselor evaluations), and stage. Although high interchain dependencies were present for all the clients and counselors, significant variation was related to stage and outcome. Further, both clients and counselors in successful dyads demonstrated significant increases of intrachain dependency in the end stage, but no similar increases were found for either clients or counselors in the less successful dyads. These results are discussed with respect to relationship formation and development, differences in client and counselor role, and implications for future studies on interaction sequences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The rules of interpersonal complementarity: Does hostility beget hostility and dominance, submission?

Examines the evidence for interpersonal complementarity according to the theories of R. C. Carson (1969), D. J. Kiesler (see record 1983-30243-001), T. Leary (1957), and J. S. Wiggins (1982). It is contended that the only prediction found to be regularly supported is that friendly–dominant and friendly–submissive behaviors are complementary. A repeated finding, not predicted by any theory, is that hostile–dominant acts are frequently responded to with further hostile–dominant behavior. There is also evidence that hostile–submissive behavior is frequently met with friendly–dominance. Conceptual and methodological problems with this research are discussed. It is suggested that the theory of interpersonal complementarity based on the idea of a shared definition of the encounter needs to be modified to take greater account of the factor of defense of status. Theory and research should also accommodate the influence of setting, status difference, and time in relationship, as well as cognitive and emotional processes that intervene between antecedent and consequent acts. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The interpersonal process of cognitive–behavioral therapy: An examination of complementarity over the course of treatment.

Data from 20 clients seeing 4 experienced therapists conducting time-limited, cognitive–behavioral therapy in a university counseling center were examined with respect to the pattern of complementarity and its relation to outcome. The Interpersonal Communication Rating Scale—Revised (S. R. Strong, H. Hills, & B. Nelson, 1988) was used to determine levels of complementarity. Results of growth curve analyses support the covariation of the U-shaped pattern of complementarity with outcome. More successful dyads demonstrated a pattern of initial high levels of complementarity, decreasing levels in the middle of treatment, and then increasing levels at the end, but not as high as at the beginning. Less successful dyads did not demonstrate this pattern. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal complementarity and the therapeutic alliance: A study of relationship in psychotherapy.

Examined the relationship between the therapeutic alliance and interpersonal complementarity during the early stage of psychotherapy. 36 pairs of patients (aged 18–57 yrs) and therapists from 14 outpatient settings recorded their perceptions of their therapeutic alliance, using a working alliance inventory, and rated each other's therapy behaviors on the Checklist of Interpersonal Transactions. There were positive associations between patient–therapist interpersonal complementarity and both patients' and therapists' perceptions of the alliance. The more extreme/abnormal the patient's interpersonal behavior, the more both patient and therapist perceived a less positive working alliance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Formation of a therapeutic relationship: Experiences during the initial phase of psychotherapy as predictors of treatment duration and outcome.

Studied the formation of a psychotherapy relationship using self-reports of clients and therapists. Items designed as measures of a set of dimensions considered salient to the process of therapy were incorporated into client and therapist report forms. These were completed separately by clients and therapists immediately following each of the initial 10 sessions. It was hypothesized that report-form dimension scores early in treatment would predict persistence in treatment, duration of treatment, and retrospective evaluations of outcome. Subjects were 91 students (36 males, 55 females) attending a large urban unversity and 19 therapists (10 females, 9 males) on the staff of the university student counseling service. A number of client and therapist dimensions predicted persistence in treatment as early as the 3rd session. Dimension scores failed to predict duration of treatment for remainers, however. A greater number of dimension scores correlated with therapist outcome ratings than with client outcome ratings. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Power moves: Complementarity in dominant and submissive nonverbal behavior.

Two studies examine complementarity (vs. mimicry) of dominant and submissive nonverbal behaviors. In the first study, participants interacted with a confederate who displayed either dominance (through postural expansion) or submission (through postural constriction). On average, participants exposed to a dominant confederate decreased their postural stance, whereas participants exposed to a submissive confederate increased their stance. Further, participants with complementing responses (dominance in response to submission and submission in response to dominance) liked their partner more and were more comfortable than those who mimicked. In the second study, complementarity and mimicry were manipulated, and complementarity resulted in more liking and comfort than mimicry. The findings speak to the likelihood of hierarchical differentiation (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When do opposites attract? Interpersonal complementarity versus similarity.

Two experiments examined whether interpersonal complementarity or similarity influences people's satisfaction with dyadic interactions. Participants in complementary partnerships (submissive people with dominant partners, dominant people with submissive partners) reported more satisfaction than did those with similar partners. In Study 1 complementarity referred to the match between the participants' self-reported interpersonal style (dominant or submissive) and the role enacted by a confederate (dominant or submissive). In Study 2 participants interacted in pairs, and complementarity referred to the match between one participant's interpersonal goals and the other's overt behavior. Participants whose goals were complemented by their partners' behavior were more satisfied with the interaction than those whose goals were not. In both studies satisfied participants perceived their partners as similar to themselves. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Outcome effects of eclectic interpersonal-learning-based group psychotherapy with college student neurotics.

A focused 5-yr research program used a large number of clients (45), groups (10), and co-therapists (20) to assess group psychotherapy outcome in a homogeneous diagnostic population (severely disturbed college student neurotics) and therapist–treatment modality (eclectic, interpersonal learning based, with insight and behavior change goals). Analysis of self-report data (Group Therapy Evaluation Form and Illinois Personal Rating Form) for control and therapy periods and terminal behavior ratings yielded consistent, converging evidence of significant positive change in personality characteristics of self-esteem variables; anxiety; motivation and self-discipline; and activity, interest, and outgoing behavior levels in the 1st part (mean?=?10.3 sessions) of treatment. In contrast, poor interpersonal functioning and related feelings of distrustfulness, hostility, unassertiveness, and excessive status-achievement needs resisted change, but they did change by the end of treatment (mean?=?20.5 sessions). Such longer term therapy is suggested as critical to allow these clients to go beyond newly and more easily acquired changes, such as self-esteem, to an integration and extension of these changes via significant interpersonal risk-taking behaviors to resolve long-term patterns of distrust, hostility, and avoidance. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental Socialization of Emotion Expression: Gender Differences and Relations to Child Adjustment.

The present study examined gender differences in children's submissive and disharmonious emotions and parental attention to these emotions. Sixty children and their mothers and fathers participated when children were 4 and 6 years old. Children's emotion expression and parental responses during a game were coded. Girls expressed more submissive emotion than boys. Fathers attended more to girls' submissive emotion than to boys' at preschool age. Fathers attended more to boys' disharmonious emotion than to girls' at early school age. Parental attention at preschool age predicted later submissive expression level. Child disharmonious emotion predicted later externalizing symptoms. Gender differences in these emotions may occur as early as preschool age and may be subject to differential responding, particularly by fathers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Flux, Pulse, and Spin: Dynamic Additions to the Personality Lexicon.

Personality constructs were proposed to describe intraindividual variability in interpersonal behavior. Flux refers to variability about an individual's mean score on an interpersonal dimension and was examined for the 4 poles of the interpersonal circumplex. Pulse and spin refer to variability about an individual's mean extremity and mean angular coordinate on the interpersonal circumplex. These constructs were measured using event-contingent recording. Latent state-trait analyses indicated high stability of flux in submissive, agreeable, and quarrelsome behaviors and some stability in the flux of dominance. Further analyses indicated moderate to high stability in pulse and spin. Neuroticism predicted greater pulse, spin, and submissive behavior flux. Extraversion predicted greater flux in agreeable behavior. In contrast, Agreeableness predicted reduced spin and quarrelsome behavior flux. Social environmental variables predicted greater flux in dominant behavior. Flux, pulse, and spin provide reliable and distinctive additions to the vocabulary for describing individual differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultural control in psychotherapy with minority clients.

Reviews the literature on mental health services for minority clients, suggesting that these persons experience special problems with the traditional mental health delivery system. Epidemiological and attitude studies have indicated that minority client and majority therapist expectations for psychotherapy are often discrepant. Counseling and psychotherapy outcome research on therapist–client racial pairing has yielded inconclusive results at present. It is hypothesized that the therapist–client racial pairing may interact with level of therapist dominance in affecting psychotherapy outcome. Dominant majority clinicians may manipulate minority persons toward majority values, which may comprise a form of cultural control. Highly dominant clinicians are posited to function more effectively with culturally similar clients than with culturally different clients in that domination may be appropriate to a certain degree in culturally homogeneous settings. Low dominant clinicians are posited as being more effective than highly dominant clinicians with culturally different clients in that they would be more likely to attempt to understand the client's cultural perspective in a nonmanipulative manner. (100 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Complementary interaction over time in successful and less successful supervision.

Over the course of supervision, the interaction sequence was examined in 6 supervision dyads. The dyads comprised 3 supervisors each meeting with 1 successful and 1 less successful trainee. The presence of D. J. Kiesler's (in press) hypothesized high-low-high pattern of complementarity over time for successful supervision was examined. Each speaking turn was categorized into 1 of the interpersonal circumplex quadrants, and the sequence of these quadrant responses was examined using loglinear analysis. Results indicate no support for the hypothesized 3-stage model of successful supervision, but there were differences in supervisor responding to trainee hostility across outcome. Results are discussed with respect to the definition and utility of the construct of complementarity to supervision. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapist Alliance-Building Behavior Within a Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment for Anxiety in Youth.

Explored the specific behavior of therapists contributing to a child client's perception of a therapeutic alliance with youth (n = 56) who received a manualized cognitive-behavioral treatment for anxiety disorders. The first 3 sessions were coded for 11 therapist behaviors hypothesized to predict ratings of alliance. Child, therapist, and observer alliance ratings were gathered after the 3rd and 7th therapy sessions. "Collaboration" positively predicted early child ratings of alliance, and "finding common ground" and "pushing the child to talk" negatively predicted early child ratings of alliance. Although no coded therapist behaviors predicted early therapist ratings of alliance, "collaboration" and "not being overly formal" positively predicted therapist alliance ratings by Session 7. Child, observer, and therapist ratings of alliance were significantly correlated. Results are discussed with regard to the identified behavior of the therapist as a step toward the identification of empirically supported strategies for building a stronger child-therapist alliance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interactional structures of therapist and client participation in adult psychotherapy: P technique and chronography.

In previous studies, the utterances of 6 clients and their therapists in early, middle, and late sessions were rated on 34 and 39 speech categories, respectively. P-technique analyses revealed 4 client and 4 therapist factors. For the present study, therapist and client utterances were assigned factor scores. A 17?×?17 correlation matrix was constructed, consisting of correlations across 4 lagged utterances (therapist-client-therapist-client), with each utterance represented by 4 factor scores and a score for the third from which the utterance was sampled. Principal-components analysis of this matrix revealed 4 therapist–client interaction factors: Mutual Therapeutic Engagement, Therapeutic Negotiation, Undirected Client Reminiscence, and Sustained Therapist Work. Unsuccessful cases deviated most from successful cases on at least 1 factor. Comparisons of interaction chronographs of episodes drawn from a successful and unsuccessful case revealed meaningful differences. Discussion highlights the power of P technique to reveal structures of psychotherapeutic discourse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using transtheoretical model profiles to differentiate levels of alcohol abstinence success.

Using data from 673 outpatient and 510 aftercare clients in Project MATCH, this study identified drinking-outcome-related differences in profiles across transtheoretical model (TTM) variables. Abstinent, moderate, and heavier drinking outcome groups were formed as a function of their 1-year posttreatment drinking behavior. Using profile analysis, group differences in the shapes of the mean profiles on TTM-related measures of stage and self-efficacy were found (a) for both the outpatient and aftercare populations and (b) at both the baseline and end-of-treatment time points. The use of cognitive and behavioral change processes during treatment was measured and the scores for each were included in the creation of the end of treatment profiles. The relation between number of TTM goals attained and probabilities of successful drinking outcome supports the usefulness of profile differences in predicting long-term drinking outcomes and can enable therapists to help clients set interim goals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential parenting and change in sibling differences in delinquency.

This study examined the influence of differential parental hostility during early and middle adolescence on changes in differences in siblings' delinquency by middle to late adolescence. Information was obtained from 359 intact families participating in a longitudinal study of stress and family life. Difference scores based on adolescent reports of delinquent behaviors and observer ratings of parental hostility were used in a series of 2-wave, 2-variable models. The results suggest that both mother's and father's differential hostility had a significant effect on sibling differential delinquency at a later point in time after controlling for Time 1 differences in delinquency. The sibling treated in the most hostile fashion demonstrated relatively more delinquent behaviors at Time 2. The findings were mixed regarding the influence of sibling differential behavior on parental hostility across time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Therapeutic Process As a Predictor of Change in Patients' Important Relationships During Time-Limited Dynamic Psychotherapy.

Components of the therapeutic process have been shown to be moderately strong predictors of change in patients' global interpersonal functioning during therapy. The authors sought to extend this research by examining how the therapeutic process in time-limited dynamic psychotherapy related to change in patients' perceptions of a specific relationship as rated by the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior. Results showed that ratings of therapist warmth at Session 3 predicted increased warmth and decreased hostility in patient behavior at posttreatment. Therapist warmth at Session 16 was predictive of a decrease in submissive behavior by patients toward their significant other. The importance of the association between the therapeutic process and patients' important interpersonal relationships is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)