Investigations into the relationships of process to outcome in psychodynamic psychotherapies have encountered formidable difficulties, and compelling associations between dimensions of therapy process and treatment effectiveness have yet to be adduced. The proposed project will involve a series of studies of therapy process and outcome in psychodynamic therapies of varying length: brief therapy (16 sessions); longer-term therapy (45 sessions); and psychoanalysis. Successive studies will attempt to identify dimensions of process that are associated with successful outcome in each of these treatment modalities. Process will be measured with a newly constructed Psychotherapy Process Q-sort designed to provide a basic language for the descriptions of process in a form suitable for quantitative analysis. The project will also investigate the change or evolution of therapy process over time. Although psychotherapy has commonly been conceptualized in terms of phases, there exist very little data on the nature of systematic changes or evolution of process over the course of treatment. Examination of change in process in three treatment modalities will allow the identification and descriptions of process dimensions in a novel fashion, and could prove an innovative contribution toward a more effective method for the study of psychotherapy. The project will rely in part on the extensive data bank located at the Mt. Zion Hospital and Medical Center in San Francisco. The available archive already contains detailed records for more than 60 cases of brief psychotherapy, including extensive pre- and post-therapy evaluations and follow-up assessments, and complete audio-tape records of all treatment sessions. The Center has recently received funding to conduct studies of longer-term treatments.
| Jones, E E; Pulos, S M (1993) Comparing the process in psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral therapies. J Consult Clin Psychol 61:306-16 |
| Jones, E E; Cumming, J D; Horowitz, M J (1988) Another look at the nonspecific hypothesis of therapeutic effectiveness. J Consult Clin Psychol 56:48-55 |
