Increasing Hope by Addressing Clients' Outcome Expectations.
Journal Article Critique by Mr Stanley Chung (26 Jan, 2014)
Title, Author, Date & Source
Swift, Joshua & Derthick, Annie. (2013). Increasing Hope by Addressing Clients' Outcome Expectations. Psychotherapy, 50, 284-287. doi:10.1037/a0031941
Brief summary of the study
This article discusses the importance of addressing clients’ outcome expectations in psychotherapy that can lead to a strong therapeutic alliance, more positive treatment outcomes, and decreased rates of premature termination. Five interventions for addressing expectations are proved to be effective in a number of studies, including presenting a convincing treatment rationale, increasing clients’ faith in their therapists, providing outcome education, and comparing progress with expectations.
Strengths and Limitations/Conclusions:
Clinical examples and research support/findings are provided for each of the five interventions. They are clearly presented and elaborated in this article. The authors argue that the outcome expectations of clients are the pivoting variable for change in psychotherapy. Sometimes we, as therapists, may only focus on the therapeutic approaches but neglect the importance of helping clients develop and maintain appropriate prognostic expectations. Presenting a convincing treatment rationale in the initial phase of therapy by explaining clients’ problems and description of how the specific techniques will help overcome the problems. It sounds good to have clients understand their problems but I wonder if the client would think like meeting a “medical doctor” and too much stress on the “techniques” may have negative impact to client seeing their “problems”. I agree that the authors suggest expressing faith in the client by genuine statement recognizing the client’s strengths which are more person-centered. Increasing the client’s faith with trustworthy (influenced by genuineness, warmth and empathy) is consistent with Rogerian’s approach however I don’t agree with the authors that the therapists need to be perceived as an “expert”, like posting the framed diploma and use of psychological jargon in the psychotherapy sessions. Would it pose a threat or negative impact to minority client or client with low SES? Regularly checking with clients about their progress and expectations, and help clients develop appropriate outcome expectations by educating them about typical treatment length and patterns of change would minimize the premature dropout rate. These interventions remind us the importance of outcome expectations; however in my opinion, they must be used with careful and cannot replace the essential elements in psychotherapy.
Journal Article Critique by Mr Stanley Chung (26 Jan, 2014)
Title, Author, Date & Source
Swift, Joshua & Derthick, Annie. (2013). Increasing Hope by Addressing Clients' Outcome Expectations. Psychotherapy, 50, 284-287. doi:10.1037/a0031941
Brief summary of the study
This article discusses the importance of addressing clients’ outcome expectations in psychotherapy that can lead to a strong therapeutic alliance, more positive treatment outcomes, and decreased rates of premature termination. Five interventions for addressing expectations are proved to be effective in a number of studies, including presenting a convincing treatment rationale, increasing clients’ faith in their therapists, providing outcome education, and comparing progress with expectations.
Strengths and Limitations/Conclusions:
Clinical examples and research support/findings are provided for each of the five interventions. They are clearly presented and elaborated in this article. The authors argue that the outcome expectations of clients are the pivoting variable for change in psychotherapy. Sometimes we, as therapists, may only focus on the therapeutic approaches but neglect the importance of helping clients develop and maintain appropriate prognostic expectations. Presenting a convincing treatment rationale in the initial phase of therapy by explaining clients’ problems and description of how the specific techniques will help overcome the problems. It sounds good to have clients understand their problems but I wonder if the client would think like meeting a “medical doctor” and too much stress on the “techniques” may have negative impact to client seeing their “problems”. I agree that the authors suggest expressing faith in the client by genuine statement recognizing the client’s strengths which are more person-centered. Increasing the client’s faith with trustworthy (influenced by genuineness, warmth and empathy) is consistent with Rogerian’s approach however I don’t agree with the authors that the therapists need to be perceived as an “expert”, like posting the framed diploma and use of psychological jargon in the psychotherapy sessions. Would it pose a threat or negative impact to minority client or client with low SES? Regularly checking with clients about their progress and expectations, and help clients develop appropriate outcome expectations by educating them about typical treatment length and patterns of change would minimize the premature dropout rate. These interventions remind us the importance of outcome expectations; however in my opinion, they must be used with careful and cannot replace the essential elements in psychotherapy.
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