The paper reviews objections to meta-analysis in psychotherapy. It is suggested that claims to inclusiveness and objectivity are not supported by the evidence, and that for most purposes the simplistic scoring systems of meta-analysis are not only useless, but may be counterproductive. (Author/CL)

Reviews ethical and legal issues concerning the application of informed consent in psychotherapy in relation to (1) controversies in defining an informed consent; (2) ethical and legal responsibilites of psychotherapist obtaining informed consent; (3) potential ethical and legal liabilities for not implementing informed consent doctrine; and (4)…

Examined whether the payment of a fee affects the outcome of treatment in undergraduate students (N=76). Results showed that following therapy, clients who had not paid a fee reported reliably lower levels of symptom and problem distress. (LLL)

Presents a survey of published and private opinions of mental health professionals revealing a previously hidden consensus concerning certain values that enhance mental health: Freedom, Love, Identity, Truth, Universals, Symptom Management, and Work. There was disagreement about the effect of many other values on mental health. (Author/BH)

Psychotherapy clients (N=62) were randomly assigned to view a pretherapy orientation videotape at admission or to a control group. Oriented clients understood and recalled the information in the videotape, showed a greater decrease in self-reported symptoms than the control group after one month, and gave favorable feedback regarding the…

Observation has indicated that low self-esteem is pervasive in clients with anorexia and bulimia. Possible origins of the self-esteem deficit, its relationship to eating problems, and psychotherapeutic strategies to counteract the deficits are explored. (Author/BL)

Analyzes the attrition dilemma and reviews the methods used to compensate for data loss. Argues that attrition is not utlimately a problem of bias but a problem of lack of information. Offers a reformulation that integrates single-case studies with traditional group comparison methodology in an attempt to find optimal causal relations of…

Discusses anorexia nervosa in terms of symptoms, characteristics of patients, family relationship, and modes of treatment. Suggests that a combination of psychological and medical treatment is more effective than behavior modification. (JAC)

Examined the relationship between client adjustment and expectations regarding the outcome of therapy, and the nature of the relationship between expectancy and outcome in clients (N=110) at a university counseling center. Results showed no relationship between adjustment and expectancy but found a significant relationship between expectancy and…

Discusses the nature and value of hypnosis; rating scales and their clinical relevance; the role of self-hypnosis; and clinical studies related to anxiety, hysteria, enuresis, asthma, and pain and painful procedures. (RH)

This paper explores the supportive and effective uses of improvisation in counseling. Specifically, the intention in this paper is to accomplish three goals: to explore the history of improvisation in psychotherapy, to examine the aspects of improvisation that pertain to the counseling process, and to identify ways in which the use of…

This study compared counterconditioning, expectancy and cognitive coping variables in reducing fear and anxiety of snake-phobic college students. The outcome measures of the high-expectancy placebo group and the two cognitive-coping groups were significantly superior to those of the counter-conditioning and no-treatment groups, thus supporting the…

Through a theoretical understanding of the primary elaborative process as utilized by a young psychotic child, this article offers some techniques for the therapist to aid the child in an appreciation of the distinction between inner and outer, fantasy and reality. (CS)

The effects of therapists' and patients' moods on therapist empathy, warmth, and genuineness were studied in an intensive design. It was concluded that the therapist feelings preceding the facilitative therapy hour'' were not the same for high- and low-facilitative therapists. The use of the intensive design in psychotherapy processs research was…

The client's expectancy of improvement is regarded as an explanatory construct accounting, in part, for actual psychotherapeutic improvement. Issues involving the conditions under which expectancy effects have been demonstrated, the circular definition of expectancy, the attribution of causality to expectancy, expectancy versus prediction, and the…