Interpersonal narratives in cognitive and interpersonal psychotherapies

The purpose of the current investigation was to explore the predictors of t he frequency and completeness of interpersonal narratives in psychotherapy. Narratives were extracted from 548 sessions of 72 patients who received ei ther cognitive (CT) or interpersonal therapy (IPT) for depression. Consiste nt individual differences in narrative frequency, length, completeness, and number of therapist words per narrative were found. IPT sessions contained significantly more narratives than CT sessions, and CT sessions contained a higher proportion of therapist words per narrative. The alliance was posi tively related to the number of patient words per narrative, and patients w ith more involved interpersonal styles elicited more therapist words per na rrative. Expectations about the causes of depression and helpfulness of foc using on interpersonal issues in therapy influenced narrative frequency and completeness more in CT than in IPT.