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Early psychotherapeutic empathy, alliance, and client outcome: Preliminary evidence of indirect effects
Author(s) -
McClintock Andrew S.,
Anderson Timothy,
Patterson Candace L,
Wing Edgar H
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.22568
Subject(s) - empathy , alliance , psychology , association (psychology) , clinical psychology , psychotherapist , depression (economics) , depressive symptoms , outcome (game theory) , psychiatry , cognition , mathematics , mathematical economics , political science , law , economics , macroeconomics
The association between psychotherapeutic empathy and client outcome is well established, yet the mechanisms underlying this association remain poorly understood. We hypothesized that early experiences of empathy influence outcome through the working alliance. To test this hypothesis, we used archival data collected from 56 clients (mean [ M ] age = 19.5 years, 83.9% female, 76.8% White) who reported mild, moderate, or severe depressive symptoms at screening and pretreatment assessments and then received five sessions of evidence‐based psychotherapy. Therapists ( M age = 26.0 years, 50% female, 100% White) were six students in a clinical psychology PhD program. Results of bootstrap analyses were consistent with the idea that early experiences of empathy strengthen the alliance (specifically the goals and tasks facets), which in turn facilitates improvements in depressive symptoms and psychological well‐being. While preliminary, these results implicate a specific pathway of change in the treatment of depression.