A Structural Analysis Of Social Behavior Of The Establishment Of Psychotherapy Relationship In The Early Phase Of Counseling

In the past three decades,research findings have repeatedly demonstrated the therapeutic relationship as perhaps the most important common factor component to the therapeutic process,and there is substantial evidence for a link between the alliance and treatment outcome.And researchers and practitioners have basically reached a consensus that good relationships are usually characterized by cooperation,mutual trust,acceptance and emotional connection.However,we still don’t know what the therapist and the client’s behaviors that cultivate a good therapy relationship,and how to do that.Thus,these results lack sufficient guiding significance for clinical practice.Norcross and Wampold(2011)recommend that in order to provide guidance for the training of clinical practice,to help therapists learn how to establish and cultivate the proven therapeutic relationships,practice and treatment guidelines should explicitly address therapist behaviors and qualities that promote a facilitative therapy relationship.Therefore,it is necessary for research and clinical practice to study the interpersonal interaction process of psychotherapy.This study focuses on the therapy relationship,and Benjamin’s(1973,1974,1977,and 1979)model for the structural analysis of social behavior(SASB)is introduced into the study the interpersonal interaction process of psychotherapy.This paper presented three sub-studies:1.A comparison study in good-and poor-outcome case of counseling.The aim of this study is to analyze the difference of the interpersonal interaction and the patterns of working alliance development in good-and poor-outcome case of counseling,and to determine that the SASB model can be used to analyze the local consultation process.In study 1,cases were grouped into good and poor outcomes(n=4)on the basis of the two criteria proposed by Jacobson et al(1984)to evaluate clinical significance,and the first to four sessions were selected,totally 32 sessions.The four coders were divided into two groups,according to the SASB coding manual to encoded the interpersonal behavior,and the consistency reliability of the coder is analyzed by Cohen’s kappa coefficient.Patterns of working alliance development were detected by Cluster analysis,and the differences of interpersonal behavior between groups and sessions were analyzed by independent sample T test and variance analysis of repeated measurements.Results showed that there are differences in some interpersonal behavior and alliance development level in good-and poor-outcome.2.A comparison of interpersonal behavior in different patterns of working alliance development at the early phase of counseling.The purpose of study 2 is to analyze the differences of interpersonal processes under different patterns of working alliance development.In this study,15 cases with complete consultation texts and recordings of the first to four sessions were selected from the "guidance database" of a university.At the same time,29 valid cases were collected in the university mental health center,and the recordings of the sessions and the work alliance questionnaire were collected.Therefore,in this study,a total of 44 cases,176 sessions.The four coders were divided into two groups,according to the SASB coding manual to encoded the interpersonal behavior.Cluster analysis was used to investigate the patterns of working alliance development of 44 cases at the early phase of counseling,and the interpersonal behavior under different patterns of working alliance development was investigated by independent sample T test and repeated measurement variance analysis.The results showed that at the early phase of counseling,the patterns of alliance development of 44 cases are divided into two categories,linear growth and stable growth.There are significant differences in the interpersonal behavior among different patterns of alliance development.3.A structural analysis of social behavior of the establishment of Psychotherapy Relationship in the Early Phase of Counseling.On the basis of study 1 and study 2,study 3 investigated the relationship between the interpersonal behavior of 44 cases and the quality of the work alliance assessed by the client.The relationship between interpersonal behavior and work alliance was investigated by Pearson correlation analysis and the Cross-Lagged Regression Analysis.The results showed that there was a significant positive correlation between the Therapists 1-3(Love&Approach)behavior and the level of work alliance assessed by clients.The Therapists 1-5(Watch&Control)behavior,the client 1-2(Affirm&Understand)and 2-5(Defer&Submit)behavior were negatively correlated with the work alliance.There was a significant positive correlation between the negative complementarity and work alliance at the second and third sessions.At the end of the consultation,the scores of the work alliance assessed by clients are stable in the four sessions,and the work alliance at the end of the previous sessions could significantly predict the Therapists 1-5(Watch&Control)behavior and the client 2-5(Defer&Submit)behavior in the next sessions.