The importance of emotionality during the psychotherapeutic hour has been extensively documented in the psychotherapy theory and research literature. Prominent theorists and researchers have advocated that the degree of client's emotionality is an important therapeutic variable that facilitates therapeutic and personality change. The purpose of this study was to (a) examine the relationship between client level and type of emotionality as measured by the Experiencing, Strength of Feeling-Revised, and Vocal Quality Scales and the occurrence of in-session therapeutic phenomena as measured by the Category System of Client Good Moments scale, and (b) what levels and types of emotionality occur with specific categories of in-session therapeutic phenomena. Trained judges from Master's and Ph.D level in counselling psychology assessed the occurrence of in-session therapeutic phenomena and levels and types of emotionality in 19 psychotherapy sessions from 8 different therapeutic approaches. The findings indicated that: (a) as the level of experiencing and strength of feeling increased, so did the occurrence of in-session therapeutic phenomena; (b) when the client's vocal quality was Focused or Emotional, the occurrence of in-session therapeutic phenomena significantly increased; and (c) there are optimal levels and types of emotionality associated with particular categories of in-session therapeutic phenomena. These findings have implications for refining and extending counselling theory, for process research, and for clinical practice and training. Future directions are also outlined.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.34528 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Peternelli, Loris. |
| Contributors | Stalikas, Anastiassios (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: 001616236, proquestno: NQ37011, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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