Patients and therapists assess the same psychotherapy.

This study analyzed the perceptions of both patients and their psychotherapists at the close of psychotherapy as to changes taking place and ideas about what was helpful and not helpful. The participants consisted of 63 outpatients and 28 psychotherapi sts. Data were secured by administering an open-end questionnaire. Major findings and conclusions were: (a) therapists stressed changes in symptomatic relief and improvement in social relationships, whereas patients focused on self-understanding and self-confidence; (b) patients underlined the opportunity to talk over problems and the "human" characteristics of the psychotherapist as helpful, and therapists highlighted therapeutic technique and support to the patient as most beneficial; (c) expectancy and conceptual disparities about therapy between patient and therapist should be minded to maximize treatment benefits. Despite the contribution of various investigators (among others, Bollard & Mowrer, 1953; Fiedler, 1953; Heine, 1953; Leary & Gill, 1959; Robbing & Wallerstein, 1959; Rogers, 1961; Strupp, 1960), agreement concerning process aspects and recognizable and predictable effects of psychotherapy is still lacking. Evaluation of psychotherapy is undoubtedly a complex and difficult area of research. Numerous approaches have been attempted (Rubinstein & Parloff, 1959; Zax & Klein, 1960), yet the authors have been impressed by the meager heed given to the patient's viewpoint of what happens in psychotherapy and its influence on him. Most reported studies have ruddered psychotherapeutic understanding and explanation mainly to the therapist's grasp. The direct, phenomenological path (Elaine & McArthur, 1958; Board, 1959; Chance, 1959; Lipkin, 1948) has been treated with some success notwithstanding a number of obstacles, i.e., (a) neither patient nor therapist can be a completely unbiased observer, each varying in what he can and will report, (b) the mutual desire for success, wish to please the therapist, and the "hello-goodbye" effect of Hathaway (1948), may unwittingly affect responses, (c) limited consonance may exist between what either patient or therapist states about occurring changes and actual 1A condensed version of this paper was presented at the 1962 American Psychological Association annual convention in St. Louis.