Correlates of Therapist Prediction of Therapy Duration

Abstract

In the study presented here I investigated therapist perceptions of client attractiveness, anxiety, and disturbance as they relate to therapist prediction of the number of sessions the client will attend and actual client attendance. Therapists were five professionals and five practicum students at a university counseling center. Their clients were 249 college students. After the initial session, therapists completed the Therapist Personal Reaction Questionnaire (Davis, Cook, Jennings, & Heck, 1977) and items to assess client anxiety and disturbance. Therapists preferred less anxious clients, but actual numbers of sessions were only related significantly and positively to client disturbance.