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Client perceptions of significant events in prescriptive and exploratory periods of individual therapy
Abstract
This study compared the impact of helpful and hindering events, as perceived by 40 clients, in two forms of psychotherapy: an exploratory, relationship‐oriented therapy, and a prescriptive, cognitive/behavioural therapy. All clients received eight sessions of each type of treatment in a crossover design. Events were obtained by self‐report both during and at the end of each period, and content analysed for type of therapeutic impact by three trained raters. Results showed that during treatment the most commonly occurring helpful impacts across both types of treatments were ‘problem solution’, ‘awareness’ and ‘reassurance’, while the most commonly occurring hindering impact was ‘unwanted thoughts’. Similar impacts were reported at the end of each period, with the addition of ‘personal contact’. In addition, it was found that ‘problem solution’ and ‘reassurance’ impacts were more commonly reported in prescriptive treatment, whereas ‘awareness’ and ‘personal contact’ impacts were more prevalent in exploratory treatment. Only the prevalence of ‘unwanted thoughts’ was correlated (negatively) with outcome. Some possible reasons for the lack of correlation between reported impacts and outcome are suggested.
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“The Helpful Aspects of Therapy Form (HAT) [80,81] is an instrument that assesses the most significant events in the therapy.”
From Low-intensity internet-delivered treatment for generalized anxiety symptoms in routine care: protocol for a randomized controlled trial (2014) · cites this paper as [81]
In the citing paper
“Helpful Aspects of Therapy Form (HAT) [61,62] is an instrument that assesses the most helpful and hindering events in the therapy.”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Llewelyn, S. P., Elliott, R., Shapiro, D. A., Hardy, G., & Firth‐Cozens, J.
- Affiliations
- Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- University of Toledo (US)
- University of Sheffield (GB)
- University of Leicester (GB)
- Venue
- British Journal of Clinical Psychology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1988-05
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 105-114
- ISSN
- 0144-6657 (ISSN-L)
- 2044-8260
- OpenAlex
- W2021508634
- Cited by
- 164
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 6 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 3.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- British Journal of Clinical Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Society for Psychotherapy Research
- British Psychological Society
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Keywords
- individual psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, problem solutions, awareness, reassurance, intrusive thoughts, personal contact, treatment outcomes, therapeutic impact
- MeSH terms
- Anxiety Disorders, Behavior Therapy, Cognition, Depressive Disorder, Humans, Professional-Patient Relations, Psychoanalytic Therapy, Psychotherapy
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