title: Pilot test of a measure to assess therapeutic distance and its association with client attachment and corrective experience in therapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The Therapeutic Distance Scale (TDS) was developed in this project to assesse clients' experiences of distance versus engagement with their therapist.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a survey study of 47 university clients at the "mid-stage" and 34 of these clients at termination, four TDS subscales were identified: Too Close, Too Distant, Growing Autonomy, and Growing Engagement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  TDS subscales were correlated as expected with working alliance and Client Attachment to Therapist. As hypothesized, (i) pre-therapy attachment Avoidance was significantly correlated with perceptions of therapists as Too Close (but not Too Distant), (ii) pre-therapy Anxiety was significantly correlated with Too Distant (but not Too Close); furthermore, among clients who developed a secure attachment to their therapist, (iii) pretherapy Avoidance was significantly correlated with Growing Engagement; however, (iv) contrary to expectations, pre-therapy anxiety was not significantly associated with Growing Autonomy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The TDS is a promising measure for assessing the in-therapy corrective emotional experiences of clients with hyperactivating attachment (i.e. increasing autonomy) and deactivating attachment (i.e. increasing engagement).
authors: a Department of Psychology , University of Tennesseee , Knoxville , TN , USA.
authors: Brent
authors: B
authors: Mallinckrodt
authors: Gahee
authors: G
authors: Choi
authors: Katherine D
authors: KD
authors: Daly
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D010865:Pilot Projects; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D013811:Psychotherapeutic Processes; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: client attachment to therapist; corrective emotional experience; interpersonal therapy; therapeutic distance; working alliance