The Interpersonal Context of Client Motivational Language in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Previous research has found that client motivational language (especially arguments against change or counterchange talk; CCT) in early therapy sessions is a reliable predictor of therapy process and outcomes across a broad range of treatments including cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Existing s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychotherapy (Chicago, Ill.) Ill.), 2016-03, Vol.53 (1), p.13-21
Main Authors: Sijercic, Iris, Button, Melissa L., Westra, Henny A., Hara, Kimberley M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Ambivalence
Anxiety Disorders - psychology
Anxiety Disorders - therapy
Canada
Clients
Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Cognitive Therapy - methods
Female
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Human
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Language
Male
Motivation
Professional-Patient Relations
Psychotherapeutic Processes
Resistance
Treatment Outcome
Treatment Outcomes
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Summary:Previous research has found that client motivational language (especially arguments against change or counterchange talk; CCT) in early therapy sessions is a reliable predictor of therapy process and outcomes across a broad range of treatments including cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Existing studies have considered the general occurrence of CCT, but the present study differentiated 2 types of CCT in early CBT sessions for 37 clients with generalized anxiety disorder: (a) statements that are uttered to express ambivalence regarding change versus (b) statements that are intended to oppose the therapist or therapy. Two process coding systems were used to accomplish this differentiation. Findings indicated that a higher number of CCT statements that occurred in the presence of resistance (opposition to the therapist or therapy) were a substantive and consistent predictor of lower homework compliance and poorer outcomes, up to 1 year posttreatment. Moreover, when both types of CCT were considered together, only opposition CCT was related to outcomes, and ambivalent CCT was not significantly predictive of proximal and distal outcomes. These findings suggest that the interpersonal context in which CCT statements occur may be critically important to their predictive capacity. More broadly, the findings of this study have implications for the future study of client motivational language and underscore the clinical importance of detecting opposition CCT.
ISSN:0033-3204
1939-1536
DOI:10.1037/pst0000017