Abstract
The goal of this study was to provide a detailed analysis of the focus of therapist interventions in cognitive therapy for depression. Rather than measuring the techniques or specific procedures used by therapists, this study aimed at describing the aspects of clients' functioning targeted by the interventions. A transtheoretical coding system was used to classify the focus of therapists interventions in therapy sessions from the Cognitive-Pharmacotherapy Project (Hollon et al., 1992). Consistent with the cognitive therapy model, the results indicated that therapists focused primarily on producing cognitive changes. More emphasis was also placed on intrapersonal issues than on interpersonal issues. When therapists did address interpersonal issues, they focused more on the impact that others were having on clients' functioning than on the potential contribution that clients brought to their interpersonal difficulties. Finally, when addressing persons involved in clients' lives, therapists focused mostly on the clients' mates and others in general, rather than on their parents or the therapists themselves.
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This study was supported in part by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH40196) awarded to Marvin R. Goldfried, principal investigator. Louis G. Castonguay and Adele M. Hayes served as coinvestigators on the same grant. The study was also conducted while the first author received a fellowship from the Conseil de Recherche en Sciences Humaines du Canada. The authors are grateful to Steve Hollon for his major role in collecting the data and materials upon which this study was based, as well as for his help and support in preparing this article. We thank Michelle Newman and Kathleen Murphy for their assistance in writing the manuscript, as well as Ed Bein and David Smith for their statistical guidance. We are also grateful to Patrick Raue for his help in data collection.
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Castonguay, L.G., Hayes, A.M., Goldfried, M.R. et al. The focus of therapist interventions in cognitive therapy for depression. Cogn Ther Res 19, 485–503 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02230510
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02230510