RESPONSIVENESS IN PSYCHOTHERAPY

Human interaction, including psychotherapy, is systematically responsi ve; therapists' and clients' behavior is influenced by emerging contex t, including perceptions of each other's characteristics and behavior. Feedback and mutual influence occur on a wide range of time scales, i ncluding treatment assignment, strategy, and tactics, and even within the delivery of interventions. Consequently, research that assumes lin ear relations among psychotherapeutic variables may not be trustworthy . The concept of responsiveness helps show how client characteristics, therapist characteristics, and process components may be important in psychotherapy despite a lack of linear relations to outcomes. Researc h strategies that incorporate responsiveness include the use of evalua tive measures, systems approaches, and qualitative and narrative appro aches.