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Changes in patients' stress and arousal levels associated with therapists' perception of their requests during crisis intervention
Author(s) -
Kirk Andrea K.,
Stanley Gordon V.,
Brown David F.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
british journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0144-6657
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1988.tb00801.x
Subject(s) - arousal , psychology , intervention (counseling) , perception , clinical psychology , crisis intervention , stress (linguistics) , psychotherapist , psychiatry , social psychology , linguistics , philosophy , neuroscience
This study examined changes in 32 patients' stress and arousal levels before and after an initial crisis intervention interview, according to the degree of mismatch between patient and therapist perceptions of requests made during the interview. A good match between patient and therapist perceptions was associated with a decrease in patients' stress following the interview. Although patients rated by therapists as more severely disturbed had the highest mismatch scores, it is unlikely that the observed mismatch between patients and therapists is accounted for solely by psychiatric condition. The findings suggest that measuring changes in stress may well provide a valuable means of evaluating patient response to the initial crisis interview.