I Volkan Gülüm, İlknur Dilekler-Aldemir, Gözde İkizer, A Nuray Karanci
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective: Although there is notable evidence supporting the importance of the therapeutic alliance and therapist presence in psychotherapy practice, the question of how these factors interact dynamically over time remains to be answered. This study investigated how therapists adjust their presence in response to client distress and how this responsive pattern is moderated by therapeutic alliance during the beginning phase of psychotherapy.
Method: Pre-session symptom measurements and post-session ratings of therapist presence and alliance were collected across the first five consecutive sessions from 46 clients and 22 novice therapists, allowing examination of temporal sequences in therapeutic processes.
Results: Therapists' presence increased in response to higher pre-session symptom levels, with this responsive pattern evolving over time. This relationship was moderated by therapeutic alliance, with stronger alliance providing a context that attenuated the presence-symptom association. Notably, therapist ratings showed stronger predictive relationships with outcomes than client ratings, possibly reflecting the unique observational capacity of therapists in their earliest professional encounters.
Conclusion: These findings demonstrated how therapist presence operates as a dynamic, responsive intervention rather than a static therapeutic factor, suggesting that alliance functions as a contextual moderator rather than merely a direct predictor of outcome.
期刊介绍:
Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory Research and Practice (formerly The British Journal of Medical Psychology) is an international scientific journal with a focus on the psychological and social processes that underlie the development and improvement of psychological problems and mental wellbeing, including: theoretical and research development in the understanding of cognitive and emotional factors in psychological problems; behaviour and relationships; vulnerability to, adjustment to, assessment of, and recovery (assisted or otherwise) from psychological distresses; psychological therapies with a focus on understanding the processes which affect outcomes where mental health is concerned.