Premium
Spouses as Co‐Therapists: “Style” Variables and Implications for Patient‐Therapist Matching *
Author(s) -
Rice David G.,
Razin Andrew M.,
Gurman Alan S.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
journal of marital and family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.868
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1752-0606
pISSN - 0194-472X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0606.1976.tb00397.x
Subject(s) - spouse , feeling , psychotherapist , psychology , clinical psychology , social psychology , sociology , anthropology
The self‐report responses of 24 spouse (M) and 24 non‐spouse (NM) professional co‐therapist pairs were compared on a variety of in‐therapy behaviors. The therapist groups were also divided into experienced (E) and inexperienced (IE) co‐therapist pairs. Results indicated that, in general, M co‐therapists, and particularly E‐M co‐therapists, were significantly more alike in self‐described in‐therapy behaviors than NM co‐therapists. M therapists reported significantly more congruence in activity levels and quality of “feeling responsiveness” than NM therapists. These results are discussed in terms of the advantages and disadvantages of the co‐therapist “united front” likely to be perceived by patients of spouse co‐therapists. General implications for matching patients and co‐therapists are considered