Premium
Does interpersonal dependency affect therapeutic outcome? A meta‐analytic review
Author(s) -
Kane Fallon A.,
Bornstein Robert F.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
personality and mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.193
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1932-863X
pISSN - 1932-8621
DOI - 10.1002/pmh.1463
Subject(s) - psychology , outcome (game theory) , cognition , clinical psychology , anxiety , dependency (uml) , affect (linguistics) , interpersonal communication , depression (economics) , personality , interpersonal relationship , personality disorders , psychotherapist , psychiatry , social psychology , mathematics , mathematical economics , systems engineering , communication , engineering , economics , macroeconomics
This study examined whether interpersonal dependency affects therapeutic outcome, using meta‐analytic techniques to synthesize results from 31 studies (49 effect sizes; overall N = 3807). High levels of dependency were associated with more positive outcome in psychodynamic therapy ( r = 0.11, p < 0.05), but not cognitive‐behavioural therapy ( r = − 0.05, ns), and were associated with a less positive outcome in pharmacological treatment ( r = − 0.15, p < 0.001). Other predictors of outcome included patient diagnosis (high levels of dependency were linked with more positive outcome for patients with anxiety disorders but not those with depression), outcome measure (high levels of dependency were associated with significantly greater improvement in global functioning but not symptom reduction) and dependency measure (cognitive and cognitive‐behavioural dependency scales yielded less positive results than other types of measures). These results contribute to a growing body of literature examining effects of personality on treatment process and outcome. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.