Passing Patients’ Tests—But How? An Ana...

According to control mastery theory, patients in psychotherapy try to master their problems by disconfirming their pathogenic beliefs. This can be done by testing the therapist. So far, there is hardly any evidence on what concrete interventions or statements of therapists are specifically helpful in passing those tests. In our study, we analyzed the verbal utterances of therapists in test situations to determine whether there is a difference in statements used for passing or failing tests. A total of 168 session transcripts of 21 patients were selected from a total of six therapists, two each in psychoanalytic therapy, psychodynamic therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy. Test situations were identified, and therapist responses were coded using the helping skills system. There were significant differences in the therapists’ reactions to test situations. In particular, closed questions, approval, interpretation, and reflection of the patients’ feelings by therapists were associated with a high probability of passing tests. These findings can especially support therapists-in-training to obtain an orientation on how to deal with their patients’ test situations that may be perceived as challenging and are important for therapy success while respecting the individuality of their patients.