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Previous psychotherapy research typically assessed patients' target complaints before or shortly after the first therapy hour and then reassessed for change and improvement at termination on the same original problems. Authors of even the earliest articles, however, conceptualized target complaints as presenting problems that undergo a process of constant redefinition throughout the course of psychotherapy. Using a standardized assessment procedure recommended by Mintz (1977), the present study therefore followed 44 patients in time-limited marital or family therapy at a university outpatient clinic and offered them the opportunity to list new target complaints at subsequent assessment points in addition to the initial session. More than half of the patients (56%) reported new problems, and when these arose, they were significantly correlated with outcomes. Implications for comparative-competitive psychotherapy studies, as well as process and outcome research are offered in conclusion.In the first sentence of their seminal article, Battle et al. (1966) identified target complaints as "presenting" complaints (p. 184). They argued that "the process of constant definition, redefinition, and clarification proceeds throughout a course of psychotherapy" and that "the initial complaints may shift in focus and scope, or disappear altogether and be replaced by others which may go through the same process" (p. 185).Subsequent research using target complaints, however, has rarely incorporated the possibility that target complaints may shift. Nearly all published studies to date have assumed that patients' focal concerns do not change across the process of psychotherapy. The initial problems are presumed to be the only relevant issues from the first hour until the last. To date, change has typically beenThe authors acknowledge the helpful comments of Alvin 3. Straatmeyer, Hendnka Vande Kemp, Anita Lehmann Sorenson, 3. Craig Yagel, and two anonymous reviewers who read earlier versions of this article.Requests for reprints should be sent to

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We are indebted to Siang-Yang Tan, who critiqued a previous draft of this article, and to Stanton Jones, who provided the Rech data (Jones, 1992) for comparative analyses.

Although many empirical studies have investigated marital distress and marital satisfaction, no research has been conducted on the impact of graduate school on marriage for students-in-training, particularly from the viewpoint of the nonstudent spouse. Using a qualitative research methodology, six male and six female spouses of third and fourth year graduate students at an APA-approved program in clinical psychology were subjects in the present study. Three hypotheses investigated were: (a) graduate training would have a detrimental effect on student marriages, (b) nonstudent spouses would report marital strain due to student spouses' emotional isolation and withdrawal, and (c) due to the process of acculturation into organized secular psychology, students' emphasis on personal religious faith would decrease. The first hypothesis was supported, the second was unsupported, and the third received mixed support. Three recommendations to support student marriages within graduate educational settings are offered in conclusion.