Nice Article on Therapeutic Relationship

Posted by CB on March 29, 2010 at 08:37:53

In Reply to: Re: Some books that might help you and your niece posted by Perry Bulwer on March 27, 2010 at 18:46:49:

The article had many good points. The one I was looking for, because I think it is among the most important, is #13: Do you usually set treatment goals with a client? How are those determined? How long do you think I will need therapy?

Treatment planning is absolutely critical to setting expectations and keeping the therapist accountable. A client-centered treatment plan is one in which the consumer determines what issues & goals he or she wants to address.

Another question I'd ask is a therapist: Do you use standardized assessment tools? Do you measure treatment outcomes? If so, how?

Measuring treatment outcomes is like taking someone's temperature and other vital signs. With a standardized measure, a therapist can show the client his or her scores on a certain problem (e.g., depression, anger, anxiety, etc.) when they come in for help and then several weeks down the road following treatment.

By "standardized," I mean scientifically tested as a psychometric measure. A good therapist will tell people, "If we're not seeing improvement on this measure after a number of weeks, then we'll have to discuss taking a different approach." Who would keep seeing a doctor if their temperature never came down or their blood pressure didn't stabilize within a normal range? In fact, who would go to a doctor who never took vital signs?

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