PSYCHOTHERAPY ENGAGERS VERSUS NON-ENGAGERS

acceptance of the client), reflections and restatements (for alliance building and to
facilitate information-gathering; if done well help the client feel understood and facilitate
information-gathering), closed and open questions (for information-gathering), and
information in the form of facts/data/opinions (for diagnostic, treatment, and/or referral
information conveyed to the client). Helping skills that might be expected in the middle
third of the intake include open and closed questions (to gain information about the
client), and reflections, restatements, and approval-reassurance for exploring the client’s
concerns, history and presenting problems. Skills that might be expected in the last third
of the session include: some open questions about feelings or thoughts about the helping
process, restatements of what was accomplished in the session, and/or information in the
form of facts, data, or opinions relevant to the client’s presenting concerns. With intake-
only dropouts, perhaps certain skills may be used in too small quantities or may have
been poorly timed.
Studies reporting overall proportions of helping skills used in intakes. In this
section, I review articles that report overall proportions of helping skills used in intake
sessions. After reviewing each article in turn, I then summarize the findings and
limitations of this literature.
Friedlander (1982) revised the HCVRCS. The revision of the HCVRCS
contained nine categories: encouragement/approval/reassurance, reflection/restatement,
self-disclosure, confrontation, interpretation, providing information, information seeking,
direct guidance/advice, and unclassifiable. Clients were 17 undergraduates seeking help
for personal and vocational problems, and counselors were 11 doctoral student trainees at
a counseling psychology training agency. No other demographic data on clients or
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