Relationship between values, social class, and duration of psychotherapy.

Abstract

The relationship between values, social class, and duration of psychotherapy of patients and therapists at a moderate cost outpatient clinic in New York City was investigated. Values were measured by the following scales: Strong Vocational Interest Blank, Ways to Live scale, Study of Values, and the Optimal Personality Integration Scale. Lower-class patients tended to be more authoritarian-submissive than upper-class patients. The significant linear relationship indicated that the lower the social class and the higher (more authoritarian-submissive) the patient's score relative to his therapist, the longer the duration of treatment. The significant curvilinear relationship indicated that for lower-class patients, the greater the authoritarian-submissiveness relative to their therapists, the longer the duration of treatment. It was postulated that authoritarian-submissive patients might tend to remain in therapy precisely because of this quality.

Counselors' Social Class and Socioeconomic Status Understanding and Awareness

“…As early as 1974, researchers began to address social class and counseling (Lorion, ; Pettit, Pettit, & Welkowitz, ; Sladen, ; Sue & Sue, ); however, these ideas were not incorporated significantly for almost three decades. Since 2000, researchers have begun to revisit social class (Liu, ) and discuss the impact social class has on people's experiences.…”

Social class and the therapeutic relationship: The perspective of therapists as clients. A qualitative study using a questionnaire survey

“…How class is experienced within the therapeutic encounter is shaped by a number of factors, including: perceived role power (Totton, ); a sense of powerlessness that relates to clients’ personal histories (Balmforth, ); the quality of the relationship (Beckham, ; Isaac, ); initial impressions and assumptions (Liu, ); the use of language (Sembi, ); dress and appearance (Segal et al., ); and self‐disclosure (McGuinness, ). Furthermore, client/therapist social class disparity (including values) was shown to impact on therapy in one of two ways: creating either increased tension, as remarked upon by Daniels and Trier (), resulting in premature endings (Rokeach, ); or increased dependency prolonging therapy (Pettit, Pettit & Welkowitz, ).…”

Client's perception of counselor trustworthiness, expertness, and attractiveness as a function of counselor race and dialect / by Steven Jeffrey Stein.

“…For example, disputing hypothesis (1), Scharf stein, Taube and Goldberg (1977) reported that, nationally, 84% of the federally funded community mental health center clientele were persons who had annual incomes less than $10,000. With respect to hypothesis (2), Pettit, Pettit and Welkowitz (1974) failed to find any overall connection between length of treatment and social class.…”