Therapist empathy, genuineness, and warmth and patient therapeutic outcome.

Abstract

A study aimed at cross-validating previous research suggesting that the levels of the therapist's accurate empathy, nonpossessive warmth, and genuineness were causally related to the degree of patient improvement or deterioration. An equal number of "good" or "poor" therapy prospects were randomly assigned to 4 resident psychiatrists (10 patients each) for 4 mo. of psychotherapy. Results tended to confirm the importance of the 3 therapeutic conditions in combination and of empathy and genuineness separately. Negative findings for separate analysis of therapist's warmth were interpreted in terms of its negative correlation with empathy and genuineness in the present sample. On the overall measure for all patients, therapists providing high therapeutic conditions had 90% patient improvement while those providing lower conditions had 50% improvement.Previous research, built upon the Whitehorn and Betz (1954) and Betz (1963aBetz ( , 1963b studies, indicated a positive relationship between levels of therapist-offered accurate empathy, nonpossessive warmth, and genuineness on the one hand and the degree of patient improvement or deterioration on the other. These findings have been obtained in patient populations as diverse as hospitalized schizophrenics, college underachievers, juvenile delinquents, and counseling center cases, and in both individual and group psychotherapy. In a number of these studies, the data also suggest that when these same therapist factors are present to a low degree, then there is concomitant negative change or deterioration in personality functioning for the patient (reviewed by Truax & Carkhuff, 1964, and Truax & Wargo, in press).These studies involved mainly psycholo-

The Family Alliance Assessment Scales: Steps Toward Validity and Reliability of an Observational Assessment Tool for Early Family Interactions

“…Authenticity of the expressed affects (affect sharing function): the third and final characteristic, this scale concerns the authenticity of emotional expression, that is, to what extent the affects, whether positive or negative, are genuine and not forced (Biringen 2000;Truax et al 1966).…”

“…Family warmth (affect sharing function): this scale concerns one of the emotional characteristics most favorable to interaction (Truax et al 1966) and associated with optimal child development (McHale and Rasmussen 1998).…”

“…Validation of the infant's emotional experience (affect sharing function): the second emotional characteristic, this scale concerns empathic emotional reactions (Truax et al 1966), or sensitivity, which is an essential component of the child's affective development (Braungart-Rieker et al 2001).…”

Can Text Messages Make People Kinder?

“……responded in prosocial ways to hypothetical scenarios or real situations in which others were in distress? (Batson, 2011;Truax, et al, 1966) …cooperated with other participants in a prisoner's dilemma game involving real money? (Balliet, 2009;Batson et al, 1995;Batson & Moran, 1999) …gave more social support than they received?…”

“…People with more empathic character traits are also prone to healthier lifestyles, such as less alcohol and tobacco consumption (Adams, 2010;Kalliopuska, 1992), and not surprisingly, they also have better physical health (Dillon & Wink, 2007;Ironson, 2007;Konrath & Fuhrel-Forbis, 2011b). In addition, high empathy in doctors, therapists, and teachers is associated with better outcomes in their patients and students (Aspy & Roebuck, 1972;Beck, Daughtridge, & Sloane, 2002;Chang, Berger, & Chang, 1981;Coffman, 1981;Derksen, Bensing, & Lagro-Janssen, 2013;Kurtz & Grummon, 1972;Truax, et al, 1966;Waxman, 1983;West et al, 2006).…”