PSYCHOTHERAPY ENGAGERS VERSUS NON-ENGAGERS

therapists (Hill & Lent, 2006), that therapists in training seem to have more difficulty
retaining clients than do professional clinicians (Tryon 1989a, 1989b), and that only one
study has been conducted thus far on helping skills and dropout (Tryon, 2003). Since
only one study has been conducted thus far on helping skills and dropout, therapists-in-
training, as well as those providing therapy training, have little guidance as to what
helping skills may or may not be helpful for preventing dropout, or even what helping
skills patterns are associated with dropout. Thus, the investigation of the timing and
patterns of verbal helping skills in relation to psychotherapy dropout may help therapists
to understand patterns of helping skills associated with dropout and to better prevent
dropout.
Tryon (2003) began investigating the topic of therapist helping skills associated
with a type of dropout referred to as ‘engagement.’ Engagement refers to the
phenomenon of a client returning for therapy after the initial intake session (Tryon,
1985). In Tryon (2003), a ‘non-engager’ was defined as a client who failed to return for
therapy after the initial intake session, whereas an ‘engager’ was defined as a client who
returned for at least one therapy session after the intake session. In the present study, I
use the terms ‘engagement’ and ‘non-engager’ based on Tryon’s (1985, 2003)
definitions, but use the term ‘engager’ to refer to clients who continue therapy beyond
eight sessions, in order to more sharply distinguish the intake-only dropouts from their
counterparts.
Tryon (2003) found that therapists used less information-giving and more
minimal encouragers during the intake session for non-engagers than compared to
engagers. Tryon also found statistically significant differences between engagers
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