A-B therapist status, patient diagnosis, and psychotherapy outcome in a psychiatric outpatient population.

Previous research generally has supported the hypothesis that A therapists obtain better therapy outcomes with schizophrenics, while B therapists do better with neurotics. Based on recent evidence, a 2nd hypothesis (super A) has been advanced which predicts that A therapists do at least as well with neurotic patients as do B therapists and that As obtain significantly more positive outcomes with schizophrenics. To examine these hypotheses, the therapy outcomes of 7 A and 4 B therapists, differentiated by their scores on the 23-item Whitehorn and Betz (1957) A-B scale, with their 18 schizophrenic and 18 neurotic patients were examined. A multivariate ANOVA computed for the 2 outcome measures, therapists' ratings of patient improvement and number of therapy sessions, clearly supported the super-A hypothesis. Separate ANOVAs demonstrated further support for the super-A hypothesis with therapists' ratings as the dependent variable, whereas the interaction hypothesis received support with number of sessions attended as the dependent measure. Of considerable importance was the fact that the addition of ataractic medication to the treatment of schizophrenics did not attenuate the effect of the A-B therapist distinction on therapeutic outcome. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)