Patient, Therapist, and Relational Antecedents of Hostile Resistance in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Panic Disorder: A Qualitative Investigation

Hostile resistance (clients' openly combative behavior directed at therapists) predicts poor outcomes in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for panic disorder, but its origins are poorly understood. It is important to have a holistic understanding of the etiology of hostile resistance that incorporates the therapeutic context if these behaviors-and their negative consequences-are to be prevented and effectively addressed. Of the 71 adults who received CBT for panic disorder as part of larger trial, 8 exhibited hostile resistance. Grounded theory methodology was used to develop a theoretical framework to understand why these patients became hostile in session. The 10 minutes of session preceding instances of hostile resistance and matched portions of sessions from five never hostile controls were coded. Two pathways to hostile resistance emerged-one in which patient characteristics were primary and one wherein therapist failures (particularly of empathy) were primary. Being a challenging patient (i.e., narcissistic, obsessive, angry, resistant) moderated which pathway was followed. However, even among challenging patients, rarely was hostile resistance attributable to patients' dispositions alone. Most often, patient factors interacted with therapist (e.g., displays of frustration) and treatment (e.g., directiveness, degree of structure) factors to produce such resistance. Contrary to the view of hostile resistance as simply a product of a hostile patient, the picture is more complex. Findings indicate that greater attention to common factors in CBT and more flexible applications of treatment protocols is warranted.