A study of silent disengagement and distressing emotion in psychotherapy.
Fifty-two psychotherapy sessions were coded for silences that reflect processes of client disengagement (e.g., withdrawal, resistance). The study examined the presence of these silences and clients' reports of in-session emotion and symptom change. Results indicated that disengagement predicted poorer proximal and distal outcome as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory for Primary Care (BDI-PC) and poorer proximal outcome on the Symptom Checklist-5, but it was not significantly predictive of Outcome Questionnaire-45 scores. Interitem analyses revealed that disengagement had a significant proximal effect on depressive mood and negative self-evaluative items assessed by the BDI-PC, but across time these effects were sustained for the negative self-evaluative items only.
Stringer
Jessica V
JV
Department of Psychology, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USA. jvstringer@gmail.com
Levitt
Heidi M
HM
Berman
Jeffrey S
JS
Mathews
Susan S
SS
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal; D003142:Communication; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013811:Psychotherapeutic Processes; D011613:Psychotherapy; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult