COOPERATION PATTERNS OF ISRAELI MENTAL-HEALTH PRACTITIONERS

The cooperation patterns of Israeli mental health practitioners were e xamined. Psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychiatric social workers were asked to fill out a questionnaire for a study investigating the i nfluence of therapists' authoritarianism and ideology on their therape utic attitudes. The cooperation level in mental health clinics was hig her than that in psychiatric hospitals, student counseling centers, an d psychiatric departments of general hospitals. In all three professio ns, the trainees were more cooperative than the experts. The cooperati on level of the psychiatrists was the lowest, and women were generally more cooperative than men, although there was a significant Gender X Profession interaction. The fact that the psychologists and social wor kers were more cooperative may be attributed to their training, which places more emphasis on the therapist's personality and attitudes. The high cooperation level in the mental health clinics may be explained by the almost exclusive focus on psychotherapy, which encourages intro spection.