Assessment & Treatment
Focused on the critical aspects of assessment and treatment in psychotherapy, this section offers resources, guidelines, and discussions on effective diagnostic and therapeutic strategies to improve client outcomes.
280 articles found
Predictors of Change in Patient Treatment Outcome Expectation
Abstract This article examined patients’ change in outcome expectation across cognitive-behavior therapy for generalized anxiety disorder, as well as participant factors that are associated with both pretreatment outcome expectation and expectation change. Findings: On average, patients’ outcome expectation becomes more positive over time. Moreover, the degree of such change is influenced by several baseline and early treatment patient factors […]
Andreea Visla, PhD + 2 more
November 28, 2021
Investigation of the Psychometric Properties and Treatment Outcomes for a Brief Measure of Trauma Related Symptoms in Adolescents
Abstract The purpose of this article is to explore the psychometric properties of a brief measure of trauma-related symptoms among adolescents in psychotherapy, the ACORN Trauma Measure, as compared to a general outcome questionnaire called the ACORN Global Distress Measure. The ACORN Trauma Measure includes three trauma-specific items intended to give clinical insight into the […]
Daryl Mahon, D.SoC, MA + 2 more
November 23, 2021
Helping Patients Interpret Ambivalence about Change
Context More and more, I notice therapy clients asking directly for insight. They want to understand why they dilly-dally on their goals, waffle on difficult decisions, envision change but don’t plan for it. “…If I feel I want to do X, and I say I want to do X, why can’t I just do it?” […]
Dana R. Falk, Ph.D.
November 15, 2021
Psychotherapy and Parents
Collateral work with parents is a widely adopted practice among child psychotherapists. In the early days of child analysis, parents were not necessarily involved in the child’s treatment, it is now widely believed that work with parents can enhance the effectiveness of child psychotherapy treatment, enabling the changes that take place within the therapy room […]
Tatianna Kufferath-Lin, PsyD + 3 more
October 17, 2021
The Relationship Between Measures of Alliance and Outcome in Psychotherapy Lasting More Than Five Sessions
The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between alliance measures and improvement on the outcome measure for clients in longer term treatment (six to 20 sessions). This is the second of a two part series. The first article (Mahon et al., 2021) explored the relationship between alliance scores and improvement on the […]
Daryl Mahon, D.SoC, MA + 2 more
August 1, 2021
The Relationship Between Session-to-Session Change on a Therapeutic Alliance Measure and Outcome of Treatment for Short Term Psychotherapy
The therapeutic alliance (Bordin, 1979) remains one of the most studied constructs in psychotherapy outcome research (Norcross & Lambert, 2019), and is a robust predictor of client outcome (Flückiger et al., 2018; 2020; Wampold & Imel, 2015). It has been established that therapists vary in their ability to build and maintain an effective alliance, which […]
Daryl Mahon, D.SoC, MA + 2 more
July 18, 2021
Clinical Impact of School-based Interventions
Abstract Aim This paper presents results of a five-year project to implement measurement and feedback processes, also referred to as feedback informed treatment, within seven agencies providing school-based mental health services to K-12 students. The purpose was to monitor rates of improvement on a measure of global distress over time. Method A standardized measure of […]
S. (Jeb) Brown, Ph.D. + 2 more
June 6, 2021
Psychological Considerations of Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis
Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is the most common progressive, chronic, life-threatening genetic disorder. However, it is still rare. There are around 30,000 cases diagnosed in the United States (Ernst et al., 2011; Kerem et al., 2005). There is no known cure for CF, however, it is common for patients with CF to live into their 30’s. […]
Veronica Grosse, MS
May 9, 2021
Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder
Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder (DPDD) is identified as a dissociative disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Revision (DSM-5) and a neurotic disorder in the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). Although a consistent definition has been accepted by the psychology community since the late 1800’s, the disorder is still misunderstood and […]
Olivia Carelli, Psy.D. + 1 more
April 11, 2021
Improving Clinical Outcomes for Digital Self-Care
This paper builds upon prior analyses of the effectiveness of an online self-guided cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) program. Learn to Live, Inc. provides a digital behavioral healthcare platform with a no-cost option to all users to get personalized guidance and support from a non-licensed coach. Coaching was found to result in users staying engaged with […]
S. (Jeb) Brown, Ph.D. + 1 more
March 14, 2021
Where’s the Postpartum Anxiety?
Baby blues? Postpartum depression? What about postpartum anxiety? Many people have heard of baby blues and postpartum depression while postpartum anxiety seems to be less researched independently or researched in combined with postpartum depression. Even when one searches postpartum anxiety in the search bar on the National Institute of Mental Health website, only resources for […]
Kourtney Schroeder, Psy.D.
February 7, 2021
Working with Survivors of Covid-19
At the time this post will be published, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), over 340,000 United States (US) citizens will have died from Covid-19. The psychological toll is incalculable. Thousands more have had traumatizing near-death experiences, including enduring medically-induced coma for the purpose of lung ventilation (Zimmerman et al., 2020). Medical trauma […]
Olivia Carelli, Psy.D.
January 3, 2021