Locus of control as a predictor of outcome of psychotherapy

Abstract

The last 10 years have shown a notable increase in the consideration of locus of control as a variable pertinent to the explanation of outcome in psychotherapy. In particular, a body of research has provided evidence that an internal locus of control orientation facilitates both positive assessments of therapy and favourable outcomes, and that successful outcomes for clients with particular control orientations are facilitated by the degree of structure and directiveness in therapy. There appear to be a number of difficulties with the methods of measurement employed in these studies; in particular, the selection of subject groups and indexes of outcome as well as manipulation of treatment structures may have limited the generalizability of research findings. The possible therapeutic and clinical applications of locus of control in psychotherapy are considered.

Relatives' locus of control and expressed emotion in schizophrenia and related psychoses

“…If their Powerful Others scores are high, such as in the subgroup of workerdlower grade employees, overinvolved persons would probably gain from a directive, structured counselling approach. Thls goes well with a psychoeducational group format (Anderson, Reiss & Hogarty, 1986;Falloon, Boyd & McGill, 1984;Goldstein, Rodnick, Evans, May & Steiberg, 1978;Kuipers, Leff & Lam, 1992;Tarrier et al, 1988), and is in line with research findings regarding therapy outcome, favouring a directive approach for 'external subjects' (using Rotter's I-E scale) (Foon, 1987). If their Powerful Others scores are low, a more non-directive style, ensuring a feeling of autonomy, would be suitable.…”

Psychological Factors in Childhood Asthma

“…In the same way, locus of control is a variable pertinent to the explication of outcome in psychotherapy. In particular, internal locus of control facilitates both positive assessments of therapy and favourable outcomes (Foon, 1987). In addition, there are interaction effects of internal vs. external locus of control and directive vs. nondirective therapy.…”

Locus of control in behaviourally disordered children

“…The attractiveness of the locus of control construct as an explanatory variable for disordered behaviour was increased when research evaluations began to offer confirmation that therapeutic interventions could result in increased internality in behaviourally disordered delinquent populations (Deiker & Matson, 1979). There is now a wide acceptance in the literature that the construct has significant value for those who work with special child populations (Knight, 1992) both as an initial screening measure to be used by psychotherapists (Foon, 1987), special education teachers (Walters & Klein, 1981), counsellors in juvenile prisons (Drummond, Barnard & Mehnert, 1985) and victims of child abuse (Schroeder & Gordon, 1991) and for increased internality to be seen as a therapeutic goal in itself (Charlton, 1985).…”