Reliability and base rates of interpersonal themes in narratives from psychotherapy sessions

We present an analysis of the reliability and base rates of the interperson al contents of narratives told by patients in psychotherapy. Trained judges rated two samples, including 60 opiate-dependent patients in cognitive or psychodynamic therapy and 72 depressed patients in cognitive or interperson al therapy. Using a comprehensive system based upon a circumplex model and involving 104 separate categories, we found that most categories of interpe rsonal behavior could be rated reliably. Potential problem categories were identified and strategies for increasing reliability are discussed. In part icular, categories related to the concept of the introject (what the self d oes to the self) had low reliability. An analysis of the base rates of inte rpersonal themes revealed that issues related to autonomy/assertion were mo st prevalent, although some differences between the two samples were eviden t. The implications of the results for research on narratives and models of psychotherapy are discussed. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons. Inc.