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Effect of patient dissatisfaction with the therapist on group therapy outcome
Author(s) -
Ogrodniczuk John S.,
Joyce Anthony S.,
Piper William E.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
clinical psychology and psychotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.315
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1099-0879
pISSN - 1063-3995
DOI - 10.1002/cpp.526
Subject(s) - psychology , moderation , psychotherapist , supportive psychotherapy , group psychotherapy , outcome (game theory) , randomized controlled trial , clinical psychology , medicine , social psychology , mathematics , mathematical economics
This study had three objectives concerning patients' dissatisfaction with their psychotherapist. The first was to compare patient dissatisfaction with the therapist in interpretive and supportive group therapies. The second was to investigate the relationship between dissatisfaction and treatment outcome. The third was to examine the quality of object relations (QOR) as a moderator of the effect of dissatisfaction on treatment outcome. The study utilized data from 107 patients with complicated grief who participated in a randomized trial of interpretive and supportive group therapies. Patients reported a greater dissatisfaction in interpretive therapy than in supportive therapy. Dissatisfaction was inversely related to improvement in supportive therapy, but not in interpretive therapy. Further, QOR moderated the effect of dissatisfaction on treatment outcome in supportive therapy. The findings suggest that, for certain patients, dissatisfaction with one's therapist may have an adverse effect on one's ability to benefit from group therapy. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.