Length of therapy in relation to counselor estimates of personal integration and other case variables.

Abstract

The relationship between case length and the quality or extent of psychotherape utic change in client-center ed therapy is virtually unknown. In a study of 23 client-centered therapy cases, Seeman (18) found a trend in favor of higher success ratings by the therapist for longer cases. The shorter cases spanned the entire range of success ratings from complete failure, 1, to marked success, 9, whereas the success ratings for longer cases clustered about two high points on the scale (points 7 and 8). The variability of ratings was significantly lower for the long case •group. Seeman concluded that further confirmation of these findings could mean that if a client is in therapy for at least twenty interviews, there is a strong assurance of gain from therapy, as judged by the counselor. In an analysis of 78 client-centered cases,