Affirmation/Validation, Self-Disclosure, Immediacy, and Rupture Repairs

Abstract

Abstract This chapter reviews the research evidence for the immediate, intermediate, and distal outcomes of four therapist behaviors originally included in the Norcross and Lambert book, Psychotherapy Relationships That Work, published in 2019: affirmation/validation, self-disclosure, immediacy, and rupture repairs. Affirmation/validation was judged to be demonstrably effective in terms of distal outcomes but as having no evidence for immediate and intermediate outcomes; self-disclosure and immediacy were judged as having insufficient evidence for immediate outcomes but no evidence for intermediate and distal outcomes; and rupture repair was judged as probably effective in terms of distal outcomes but as having insufficient evidence for immediate outcomes and no evidence for intermediate outcomes. The chapter concludes with training implications and therapeutic practices for each therapist method/skill based on the research evidence.