Using Personality Variables to Predict Number of Counseling Sessions for Clients

The purpose of the study was to determine what combination of 16 PF primary factors and what combination of second-order factors best predicts number of sessions in counseling. The sample included 98 clients (71 women, 27 men) from a private practice in counseling psychology. Results indicated that clients who schedule more sessions tend to be more shy (H-), conservative (Q1-), and introverted (Q1-). Conversely those who schedule fewer sessions tend to be more impulsive (H+), experimenting (Q1+), and extraverted (Q1+). Mean number of sessions was 10.4 and the median, eight sessions. Implications for treatment are considered, as well as suggestions for research.

[1]  M. Koss.  Descriptive characteristics and length of psychotherapy of child and adult clients seen in private psychological practice. , 1980 .

[2]  M. Koss.  Length of psychotherapy for clients seen in private practice. , 1979, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[3]  L. McMurray,et al.  Causes for the premature interruption of psychotherapy by private practice patients. , 1978, The American journal of psychiatry.

[4]  S. F. Moore,et al.  Confounding of personality and social class characteristics in research on premature termination. , 1975, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[5]  A. Bergin,et al.  Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change: An empirical analysis , 1971 .

[6]  J. Dodd.  A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF VARIABLES RELATED TO DURATION OF TREATMENT IN A UNIVERSITY PSYCHIATRIC CLINIC , 1970, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease.

[7]  W. Wolff.  Psychotherapeutic persistence. , 1967, Journal of Consulting Psychology.

[8]  M. Lorr,et al.  Patient and therapist influences on quitting psychotherapy. , 1963, Journal of consulting psychology.

[9]  M. Lorr,et al.  The prediction of length of stay in psychotherapy. , 1958, Journal of consulting psychology.

[10]  E. W. Hiler.  Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence as a predictor of continuation in psychotherapy. , 1958, Journal of clinical psychology.

[11]  M. Lorr,et al.  A comparison of terminators and remainders in outpatient psychotherapy. , 1956, Journal of clinical psychology.

[12]  R. Gibby,et al.  Validation of Rorschach criteria for predicting duration of therapy. , 1954, Journal of consulting psychology.

[13]  R. Gibby,et al.  Prediction of duration of therapy from the Rorschach test. , 1953, Journal of consulting psychology.

[14]  L. Eron,et al.  The use of rorschach scores to predict whether patients will continue psychotherapy. , 1953, Journal of Consulting Psychology.

[15]  B. Kotkov,et al.  Rorschach criteria for predicting continuation in individual psychotherapy. , 1953, Journal of consulting psychology.

[16]  K. R. Hammond,et al.  Predicting continuation in therapy by means of the Rorschach test. , 1951, Journal of consulting psychology.