ACCELERATION OF CHANGES IN SESSION IMPACT DURING CONTRASTING TIME-LIMITED PSYCHOTHERAPIES

Following the suggestion that therapeutic change is accelerated in tim e-limited psychotherapy, this study investigated the across-session pa tterns of session impact in the treatments of 117 depressed clients wh o were randomly allocated to 8 or 16 sessions of cognitive-behavioral (CB) or psychodynamic-interpersonal (PI) therapy. After each session, all clients completed the Session Evaluation Questionnaire and 75 of t he clients completed the Session Impacts Scale. Session ratings indica ted that sessions were perceived increasingly positively on most impac t dimensions(e.g., session depth and smoothness, relationship with the therapist, feelings of understanding and problem solving, postsession positive mood) as treatment progressed. Early in treatment, PI therap y sessions were less smooth(i.e., more tense and uncomfortable) and le ss focused on problem solving, but PI sessions changed more rapidly th an CB sessions on these dimensions, so that later in treatment, sessio ns of both treatments were equivalently positive. In both treatments, the trend toward more positive sessions was more rapid (i.e., the acro ss-session slope was steeper) in 8-session treatments than in 16-sessi on treatments. Such accelerated changes in session impact may reflect the suggested acceleration of therapeutic change associated with short er time limits.