PSYCHOTHERAPY ENGAGERS VERSUS NON-ENGAGERS

Summary. In summary, all three of the reviewed studies found differences in the
usage of helping skills across thirds of intake sessions (Hill, 1978; Lonborg et al., 1991;
Tryon, 2003). Information increased across thirds of intake sessions for all three studies.
Closed questions decreased as the intake sessions progressed for two of the studies (Hill,
1978, Tryon, 2003); the third study (Lonborg et al., 1991) did not examine closed
questions. In the study that examined helping skills in relation to engagement, client
return for therapy after intake was related to a decrease in the number of closed questions
from the therapist as the intake session progressed and an increase in the number of
information-giving statements across thirds of the intake (Tryon, 2003). In addition,
client return was related to therapist giving higher amounts of information and fewer
minimal encouragers during the intake session (Tryon, 2003). Limitations of the existing
research on helping skills used across thirds of intake sessions include: only a few studies
have examined helping skills in thirds of intake sessions, all of the reviewed studies had
small samples of clients and therapists, and thus far the studies have only been conducted
in university counseling centers (except Lonborg et al., 1991, in which volunteer clients
were used). Limitations of the literature also include that only one study thus far has
examined helping skills in relation to dropout. Furthermore, this one study that does
investigate therapist verbal behavior in intake sessions has its own limitations: the sample
of therapists was very small since only one therapist (a 38 year-old Caucasian female
clinical psychologist with 5 years of post-Ph.D therapy experience, who had a
psychodynamic theoretical orientation) participated in the study, the client sample
consisted of only 11 university student clients (seven undergraduates, four graduate
students) at a large private eastern university, the setting of the study was a short-term
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