Gender differences in psychotherapy dyads: Changes in psychological symptoms and responsiveness to treatment during 3 months of therapy

This investigation examined the relationship between gender (client, therapist, and client/therapist dyad) and various psychotherapy-related variables for clients with mood and/or anxiety disorders. In several instances, both client and therapist gender predicted treatment retention and psychological symptom changes during 3 months of therapy. In general, female clients were more likely to advance beyond the initial intake assessment and also complete 3 months of therapy. Conversely, male clients were more likely to withdraw from therapy after the initial intake assessment. Specific client/therapist gender pairing predicted treatment retention in the mood disorder subsample and trait anxiety symptom severity in the anxiety disorder subsample. Some findings should be interpreted with caution, as there were small group samples in a few of the analyses.