States that psychiatrist David Burns, M.D. development of a simple
report card that allows patients to rate the warmth and understanding
their therapists deploy each session. His studies' demonstration; How
patient's rate their therapist; Difficulty of negative reports; How
therapists are rated lower than they anticipate; Therapist-patient
relationship's double edged sword.
By
PT Staff, published on November 01, 1994
PSYCHOTHERAPY
Report cards are not just for kids anymore. Now, both patients and
therapists can use them to abet the course of psychotherapy.
Psychiatrist David Burns, M.D., developed a simple report card that
allows patients to rate the warmth and understanding their therapists
deploy each session. The report card is an outgrowth of studies he
conducted demonstrating that the quality of the relationship between
therapist and patient may be as critical to relieving such disorders as
depression and anxiety as methodology and possibly medication.
Burns, a clinical psychiatrist and researcher at Philadelphia's
Presbyterian Medical Center has patients rate their therapists from zero
to three on some simple measureS:
o "I felt that I could trust my therapist during today's
session."
o "My therapist was friendly and warm toward me."
o "My therapist did not always seem to care about me."
The negative reports are the most difficult, says Burns. But
therapists who swallow their pride can use the empathy report to help
forge more genuine patient relationships.
Burns finds that almost all therapists are rated lower by their
patients than they had anticipated. "But a bad report card," he says,
"can help a therapist understand what has to change if a patient feels
uncomfortable."
To up their empathy grades, most therapists will have to unlearn a
few things. Like responding to criticism with defensiveness and
hostility. Although therapists like to view themselves as warm and
objective, research indicates the opposite. They frequently respond to
patient criticisms with interpretations that are accusatory and
negative.
The therapist-client relationship is a double-edged sword, comments
Burns. When therapists respond with compassion, they can have a rapid
healing effect. But they can do damage with a hostile response.
Tags:
client relationship,
clinical psychiatrist,
David Burns,
double edged sword,
empathy,
evaluation,
methodology,
objective research,
patient,
patient relationships,
presbyterian medical center,
report cards,
researcher,
therapist,
therapy,
warmth
