THERAPIST AND CLIENT TRUST IN THE THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIP

This investigation examined the Rogerian assertions that therapists' t rust in their clients underlies therapists' experience of empathy, pos itive regard, unconditional regard, and congruence in the therapeutic relationship, and that therapists' demonstration of these ''facilitati ve attitudes'' is associated with clients' trust :in their therapists. Seventeen experienced therapists and 48 clients involved in ongoing i ndividual psychotherapy completed self-report questionnaires of these variables. Partial support for the Rogerian assertions was found. Ther apist trust in their clients correlated positively with therapist rati ngs of the facilitative conditions, and client ratings of their therap ists' facilitative attitudes correlated with clients' trust in their t herapists. However, therapist ratings of trust and the facilitative at titudes did not show the expected correlations with client ratings of the same measures. Examination of correlations between individual faci litative attitudes suggested a more complex model than that predicted by Rogerian theory. The implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.