This research examined the relationship between client emotional expression and the level of working alliance between therapist and client. The data were collected from 24 psychotherapy sessions conducted by exemplary psychotherapists of different theoretical orientations. The results of the quantitative analysis indicated that there was no significant linear relationship between the level of intensity of client emotional expression and the level of working alliance. Client emotional expression occurred independently of the level of the working alliance. Using a qualitative method, the study restricted its sample to 5 episodes each from the high and low working alliance sessions in order to examine therapeutic processes surrounding client emotional expression more closely. It was found that the nature of emotional expression and the interaction between therapist and client were quite different in episodes taken from the high and the low alliance sessions. In the high alliance sessions, clients expressed their troubling feelings as they examined their problems. Client emotional expressions were signs of productive therapeutic process. On the other hand, in the low alliance sessions, clients expressed anger and frustration toward their therapists for certain breaches of their relationship. Independently of the differing theoretical orientations, the therapeutic process appeared to converge particularly in the low alliance sessions, showing a similar pattern of therapist and client transactions. In addition to the findings, the study proposed a qualitative method suited for examining a wide variety of questions arising from clinical practice.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.36957 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Iwakabe, Shigeru. |
| Contributors | Stalikas, Anastassus (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001809427, proquestno: NQ70048, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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