factors such as empathy, experience of the therapist, therapeutic modality, client’s level of motivation, personality, and symptomology increase positive therapeutic outcomes. The present study explored the following research question: What are the key factors to
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Although the common factors have been discussed for almost a century, the focus of psychotherapy is typically on the development and dissemination of treatment models. If not discounted, then the common factors are thought of as perhaps necessary, but clearly not sufficient.
Common factors remain hotly contested. It is widely accepted that there are factors common to different therapeutic approaches that contribute to therapy progress; what is contested is the degree to which the common factors influence therapy outcomes. Common factor theorists contend that common factors are causal agents in therapeutic work.
The Positive Psychotherapy Model (inc. Table with Brief Session Descriptions) Similar to other therapy models, the PPT model focuses on a series of sessions aimed at uncovering ideas, desires, vulnerabilities and strengths, and working through them to reach positive reframing and overall balance between the positive and the negative.
Then the evidence for four factors related to specificity, including treatment differences, specific ingredients, adherence, and competence, is presented. The evidence supports the conclusion that the common factors are important for producing the benefits of psychotherapy.
These common factors include:Collaboration: the therapist and patient agree on treatment goals, approach and tasks.Alliance: a confiding relationship and emotionally-charged bond between therapist and patient.Empathy: the therapist is able to adopt the patient's perspective and share the patient's emotional state.More items...•
The 3 Things That Influence Your Success in TherapyForming a strong bond with your therapist.Setting clear goals together.Committing to the process.
Three common factors which are nonspecific to a particular type of therapy are: treatment alliance, therapist effects, and extra-therapeutic factors. These common factors are responsible for much of the outcome variance.
Frequency of therapy sessions was the most important predictor of treatment outcome. Patients receiving therapy twice a week had better outcomes than those receiving treatment once a week or more seldom on most of the outcome measure scales.
Stated simply, the most important thing to look for in a therapist is the quality of the relationship that you have with them, otherwise known as the "therapeutic alliance." You can judge this by how comfortable you feel with the person.
MEASURES OF PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC OUTCOMES Developing a technology for meas- uring outcomes is the first step in determining psychotherapy's efficacy. It involves decisions about what variables are important to assess, as well as the development of measurement tech- niques that can be used in actual treatment set- tings.
The effectiveness of a particular therapeutic approach can be assessed in three ways: client testimonials, providers' perceptions, and empirical research.Client Testimonials. Clients who get treatment for psychological problems often testify to their effectiveness. ... Providers' Perceptions. ... Empirical Research.
The common factors include the therapeutic alliance, empathy, goal consensus and collaboration, positive regard and affirmation, mastery, congruence/genuineness, and mentalization. Emotional experience, which is related to some of these common factors, is also found to correlate with improved levels of functioning [8].
Factors that may impact what type of treatment is used include cost-effectiveness, availability, patient preferences, and the severity of the symptoms the person is experiencing.
Interestingly enough, patients and therapists often (but not always) agree on the quality of their relationship. However, it is the patient's perception of the quality of the relationship that is the strongest predictor of treatment success.
The average effects of psychotherapy are larger than the effects produced by many medical treatments. Large multi-site and meta-analytic studies have demonstrated that psychotherapy reduces disability, morbidity and mortality; improves work functioning; and decreases psychiatric hospitalization.
Which BEST describes the longevity of positive psychotherapy outcomes? The impact of psychotherapy tends to be meaningful and sustained. Akio is a therapist treating a rape victim.
Then the evidence, primarily from meta-analyses, is presented for particular common factors, including alliance, empathy, ...
Frank (4) discussed how patients present to psychotherapy demoralized not only because of their distress , but also because they have attempted many times and in many ways to overcome their problems , always unsuccessfully. Participating in psychotherapy appears to be a form of remoralization.
The evidence, however, strongly suggests that the common factors must be considered therapeutic and attention must be given to them, in terms of theory, research and practice. One of the criticisms of the common factors is that they are an atheoretical collection of commonalities.
The so-called common factors have a long history in psychiatry, originating with a seminal article by S. Rosenzweig in 1936 (1) and popularized by J. Frank in the various editions of his book Persuasion and Healing(2–4).
That is, psychotherapy does not have a unitary influence on patients, but rather works through various mechanisms. The mechanisms underlying the three pathways entail evolved characteristics of humans as the ultimate social species; as such, psychotherapy is a special case of a social healing practice.
The cognitively-oriented therapies consisted of CT for borderline personality disorder, CT for panic disorder, and self-concept oriented CT for obesity. “Other” psychotherapies included supportive therapy/reflective listening provided to generalized anxiety disorder patients and the treatment as usual treatment provided during the pre-training phase of the study on alliance-enhancing therapy for major depressive disorder.
Patients for the five studies were recruited through department referrals and newspaper advertisements. After an initial telephone screening, potentially-eligible patients were scheduled for a baseline evaluation. During this first appointment, the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV ( First, Spitzer, Gibbon & Williams, 1994) was administered to obtain a DSM-IV diagnosis. Across the five studies, a total of 139 patients completed a baseline and at least one post-baseline quality of life assessment. The primary diagnoses of these 139 patients were generalized anxiety disorder ( n = 39), panic disorder ( n = 26), major depressive disorder ( n = 40), borderline personality disorder ( n = 19), and obesity ( n = 15).
Why measure therapy outcomes? There are a variety of answers to this question, but if you are a person seeking therapy or counseling the answer is "so you and your therapist know if the therapy is helping". Tracking progress or outcomes in therapy helps you determine whether to continue spending your time, effort, ...
Tracking progress or outcomes in therapy helps you determine whether to continue spending your time, effort, and money on the process or to try something or someone different. For decades the measurement of therapy outcomes has primarily been the focus of researchers, not therapists. These researchers have typically focused on identifying which ...
Measuring progress or effectiveness during the course of therapy allows a client and therapist to discuss what seems to be working, what doesn't seem to be working, and any need for adjustments to the treatment ( e.g., different approach, different focus, different therapist, or even an intervention other than therapy) if it is not helping.
The proof of effectiveness is in the measured outcomes, e.g., student test scores, lowered blood pressure, or in the case of therapy, concrete measures of progress, effectiveness, and outcome. 1.
Consequently, the research evidence that therapy in general is effective is good to know if you are considering therapy. - If there was no evidence that the activity helps, why bother? However, having outcome research that demonstrates the general effectiveness of therapy is only a start.
You do not have to fully understand the process of therapy to determine if it is helping, any more than you have to understand the process of how a blood pressure medication works to determine if it is working for you. You simply find an appropriate way to measure the effectiveness of the treatment.
In recent years tracking progress for individuals in therapy has started to become more commonplace, but it is by no means a standard practice. Therapy has often been considered a mysterious, emotional, intuitive, and powerful process that is difficult to quantify. These conceptions of therapy can all be true, but they do not ...