CLIENT RESISTANCE AS PREDICTED BY THERAPIST BEHAVIOR - A STUDY OF SEQUENTIAL DEPENDENCE

This study examined the relation of client resistant behavior to therapist directive behavior in a sample of 10 prominent archival therapy sessions. Client and therapist speaking turns were coded, with the behavior being aggregated into 1st-order 2 X 2 sequential frequency matrices for each dyad: one set with therapist behavior as antecedent and another set with client behavior as antecedent. The dependency of client and therapist behavior on the behavior of the other was considered across different dyads. The results indicated an overall trend, with therapist directive behavior slightly increasing the probability of subsequent client resistance. No similar effect of client behavior on subsequent therapist behavior was found. Implications of the findings with respect to research and practice are discussed.