Clinicians Digest Mar/Apr 2008 - Page 7


After nine weeks of treatment, their patients were evaluated and compared to the patients of nine therapists who hadn't meditated. The results: the patients of the meditating therapists scored significantly higher than the control group on almost every measure of global functioning, subjective experience, objective behavior, and symptoms. They were more secure about socializing and exhibited less obsessiveness, anger, anxiety, and phobias. They better understood the goals of their own development and of their therapy, and were more optimistic about making progress. They'd developed a wider repertoire of new behaviors as well.

The study suggests that therapists could do better therapy by focusing at least as much on their breathing and calm awareness as on learning clinical techniques.

The Therapist–Client Alliance Gap

Research clearly shows that therapists and clients typically rate the quality of their alliance differently, with clients generally rating the alliance a bit more positively. But sometimes clients rate the alliance lower than therapists do, and it seems that these are the cases most likely not to work out, or to end in premature terminations.

Psychologist Georgiana Shick Tryon, of the Graduate Center of Educational Psychology of City University of New York, whose metanalysis of 53 alliance studies appeared in last November's Psychotherapy Research, believes that therapists should regularly ask clients how they're experiencing the relationship and pay particular attention to those few who rate the alliance lower. That's similar to the advice from other therapy-outcome researchers, such as Michael Lambert of Brigham Young University, who've found that therapists who receive regular feedback from clients about how therapy is going, especially early in the relationship, have much better outcomes.

<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next > End >>
(Page 7 of 9)