This research investigated the relationship between therapist interpretations and optimal in-session client processes by employing two distinct but complementary studies. In the first study, the data were collected from 20 psychotherapy sessions conducted by exemplary psychotherapists of three different theoretical orientations: Client-Centered Therapy (CCT), Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), and Gestalt/Existential Therapy (GT). The results of the quantitative analysis indicated that interpretations were used with equal frequency across therapeutic approaches. Therapist interpretations were neither superior nor inferior to other interventions in relation to the occurrence of optimal in-session client processes. In the second study, the data were collected from 12 sessions equally divided between CCT, REBT, and GT. A qualitative method was employed to discover potential differences between interpretations in the three distinct therapeutic approaches as well as the differences between client processes subsequent to those interpretations. By allowing conceptual categories to emerge from this qualitatively analyzed data, it was found that interpretation was not a uniform construct across the three schools. Both common and unique features of the use of interpretations in CCT, REBT, and GT were found. The three approaches each had their own specific pattern of interpretation content as well as style of delivering the interpretations. Interpretations that were followed by optimal in-session processes were qualitatively different from those that were not. The results of these two studies support the notion that interpretation is a common therapeutic element but that different therapies nonetheless accentuate different aspects of interpretation. Implications for psychotherapy integration are offered and the findings are discussed with reference to theory and clinical practice. Future research directions for examining therapist interpretations are proposed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.37892 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Gazzola, Nicola. |
| Contributors | Stalikas, Anastassios (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: 001845400, proquestno: NQ75634, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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