Benevolent interpersonal schemas facilitate therapeutic change: Further analysis of the menninger psychotherapy research project

Abstract

Drawing from findings on the important role of patients’ pretreatment personality in psychotherapy (e.g., Cronbach, 1953), we examined the effect of pretreatment interpersonal schemas on response to 2 forms of long-term treatment: psychoanalysis and supportive–expressive psychotherapy. Renanalyzing data from the Menninger Psychotherapy Research Project (Wallerstein, 1986), we found that patients with more benevolent interpersonal schemas at the beginning of both treatments showed greater clinical improvement in the period between pretreatment and termination. These findings provide further support for the central role of patients’ pretreatment personality in the therapeutic process, particularly as assessed by their pretreatment interpersonal schemas.