What are possible common factors in psychotherapy that might account for its effectiveness, and why is it important to know about them?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer: Studies indicate that clients' ratings of therapist warmth, empathy, and supportiveness predicted successful outcomes. Several studies have found that the actual therapeutic procedures differ during therapy, but the outcomes do not. One possible explanation for this is that while it may appear that psychotherapies are different, the most significant therapeutic factors may be the same. Clients rate their personal relationship with their therapists as the single most important aspect of both behavior therapy and psychodynamic psychotherapy. A therapist's supportiveness is related to positive outcomes across various approaches to treatment. It could be that no matter what the actual therapeutic procedures, the heart of the therapeutic endeavor is the relationship between client and therapist. Another possible common factor is that therapies all involve an element of social persuasion. No matter what the procedures, it is implied, by the therapist, that the client should behave and feel differently. Frank has defined psychotherapy as involving (1) a trained, socially sanctioned healer, whose healing powers are accepted by the sufferer and by his social group or an important segment of it, (2) a sufferer who seeks relief from the healer, (3) a circumscribed, more-or-less structured series of contacts between the healer and the sufferer, through which the healer, often with the aid of a group, tries to produce certain changes in the sufferer's emotional state, attitudes, and behavior. There is research evidence that the attitudes and beliefs of the client do begin to match those of the therapist as the therapy progresses. Knowing about common factors is important to help us to understand why many studies, like the Consumer Reports study, often do not show much difference in effectiveness among various treatment approaches. These common factors can also help us to understand why psychotherapy usually works.