Pattern of therapist interventions associated with patient collaboration

To shed light on current controversy about whether interpretive interventions have a beneficial or counterproductive effect on the therapeutic alliance, the authors investigated the relation between type of therapist intervention (interpretation, confrontation, clarification, encouragement to elaborate, empathic, advice-praise) and level of patient collaboration, rating transcripts of single psychotherapy sessions for thirty-nine patients. Higher proportions of interpretation and clarification were associated with better patient collaboration, whereas a higher proportion of advice and praise was associated with poorer patient collaboration. The findings underscore the therapeutic value of the patient and therapist jointly making psychological meaning of the patient's material but also point to the need for an optimal blend of expressive and supportive interventions.