THERAPIST RESPONSIVENESS TO CLIENT INTERPERSONAL STYLES DURING TIME-LIMITED TREATMENTS FOR DEPRESSION

Effective treatment involves therapists responding appropriately to th eir clients' varying requirements, including clients' predominant inte rpersonal styles. In 2 manualized time-limited treatments for depressi on, psychodynamic-interpersonal (PI) and cognitive-behavioral (CB) cli ents were assigned to I of 3 interpersonal style groups. Therapists, w ho were not told their clients' interpersonal style, nevertheless resp onded with systematically different interventions depending on clients ' interpersonal style. Consistent with predictions, therapists tended to use more affective and relationship-oriented interventions with ove rinvolved clients, particularly in PI therapy. Therapists tended to us e more cognitive treatment methods with underinvolved clients, particu larly in CB therapy. Outcomes of the interpersonal style groups were a pproximately equivalent, consistent with a view that the differences i n treatment implementation reflected appropriate responsiveness to cli ents' interpersonal styles.