A debate exists about whether the common factors or specific ingredients are critical to producing the benefits of psychotherapy. A model of the relationship, based on evolved human characteristics related to healing, is presented that integrates common factors and specific ingredients. After the initial bond is formed, the relationship involves…

The patterns of growth and development of the therapeutic alliance over the course of therapy have been of continued interest to psychotherapy researchers. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a simple institutional metacommunication intervention with clients had an effect on the development of the alliance. This adjunctive…

Prior meta-analyses have found a moderate but robust relationship between alliance and outcome across a broad spectrum of treatments, presenting concerns, contexts, and measurements. However, there continues to be a lively debate about the therapeutic role of the alliance, particularly in treatments that are tested using randomized clinical trial…

Understanding the dropout rates of efficacious forms of psychotherapy for patients with binge eating disorder (BED) is an unsolved problem within this increasing population. Up until now the role of psychotherapy process characteristics as predictors of premature termination has not been investigated in the BED literature. Within a randomized…

As a result of mental health disparities between White and racial/ethnic minority clients, researchers have argued that some therapists may be generally competent to provide effective services but lack cultural competence. This distinction assumes that client racial/ethnic background is a source of variability in therapist effectiveness. However,…

Examined within-session interactional behavior in four brief-therapy cases, two characterized by high alliance and two by low alliance. Coded message units along dimensions of power and involvement. In all cases, there was general pattern of high power for therapists and low power for clients. High-alliance clients evidenced larger proportions of…

Analyzed case study presented by Hill, Carter, and O'Farrell (1983) with sequential analysis methods developed to demonstrate the usefulness of these methods for understanding counseling process and outcome. Sequential analysis method revealed several facets of interaction between counselor and client that were undetected by Hill et al.'s…

Responds to article by Lopez, Lopez, and Fong in which research was reviewed on Mexican Americans' reactions to ethnically similar and dissimilar counselors. Reexamines choice and judgment methodologies, discusses limitations of simple choice methodology, and expresses concern that simple choice methodology in cross-cultural counseling research…

Using a paired comparison format, surveyed ethnic minorities' (N=193) preferences for counselor characteristics. Employed a statistical procedure for paired comparison data, which revealed that Asian Americans looked for similar attitudes and values in counselors. Counselor preferences were also related to problem type and other variables. (RJM)

Measured the impact of counselor trainee stereotyping of ethnic groups. Anglo-American and minority counseling psychology students made judgments about the relationship between ethnicity and stereotypic characteristics. Findings suggest Anglo-American trainees were more susceptable to the influence of stereotypes when processing information about…