Helpfulness in psychotherapy

The study reported is grounded in psychotherapy process research. Therapist - client verbal interaction was examined with respect to experienced helpfulness. The main objective of this N=1 study was to identify those therapist responses which the client experienced as being 'most helpful'. It was hypothesised that therapist responses which attended to the emotional component of client speech would be seen to be most helpful by the client. Results provided support for this hypothesis. Additional hypotheses examined the degree of similarity between therapist intention and client impact and independent ratings of therapist response. As well, the therapist verbal modes were examined to see if they reflected his stated orientation of 'mostly psychodynamic'. Results indicated coherence between client impact, therapist intention and independent coding, and consistency between stated orientation and actual use of verbal response modes. Data analysis took two forms: a) qualitative and descriptive, using rating scales and a verbal mode taxonomy, and b) time series analysis of data generated by the use of a dial analogue measuring device. The latter generated data on client and therapist perceived helpfulness which was analysed with respect to a) cyclicity, b) coherence between the two series of data, and c) phase of data series, using Spectral Analysis. Results indicated that within both therapist and client-generated data, significant cyclicity existed. The trend over time suggested increasing coherence between the two sets of observations