The influence of socio - psychological and cultural factors on the expectations of russian patients from the psychotherapy

Abstract

The authors of this review demonstrate the correlation between the cultural features, social factors and the patients’ expectations from the psychotherapy. Russian psychologists have been paying very little attention to client expectations. It is very often that convergence between the patient´s expectations from psychotherapy and that the psychotherapist offers the patient - often depends on the success of the therapy. The results of many studies confirm that clients´ expectations are an important factor with regards to the efficiency of psy-chotherapy as well as to the rate of drop-outs. Reliable methods of assessment of clients´ expectations allow to create and to implement strategies of pre-therapy interventions. The theoretical structure of patients´ expectations is complex, as is the set of their determinants. Patients´ choices reflect their mentality, the social stratum and cultural tradition they belong to, their personal traits and value systems, inner dynamic factors including the type of attachment and particularities of the psychopathology, and so on. The paper covers multiple aspects of determination of the construct «patient´s expectations». Particular focus is on the cultural determinants of Russian patients´ expectations. In the analysis of cultural determinants of therapy expectations the authors used approaches of Ruth Benedict and Geert Hofstede. According to Benedict´s classification Russian culture might be considered more as so-called Dionysian culture. According to authors’ analysis more pertinent patients´ expectations formed by Russian culture might be such psychotherapies as psychodrama, NLP, Gestalt-therapy Holotropic Breathwork; and in a less degree – psychoanalysis.