Common principles of psychotherapeutic change: patterns of use

ABSTRACT

Many authors have proposed the existence of common principles of counselling and psychotherapeutic change. However, little is known about how practitioners use these change principles. A sample of 373 Czech psychotherapists and counsellors participated in an online survey and rated their use of 10 psychotherapy change principles in their practice over the previous year. The frequency of the use of the 10 change principles is reported. Furthermore, three principal components of the change principles were identified: exploration, acceptance, and understanding of clients’ experience; attending to clients’ own resources; and furnishing clients with new skills and advice. The use of these components was mainly associated with the practitioner's theoretical orientation. The implications of the component structure for psychotherapist and counsellor training and practice are discussed.     

Reducing Proactive Interference in Motor Tasks

Abstract

Changing automatized movement patterns often leads to initial performance decrements caused by proactive interference. In this study, we scrutinized whether proactive interference could be reduced by inhibiting the to-be-changed movement pattern by means of a physical movement constraint and verbal inhibition instructions, and whether any of the two interventions may be superior. Skilled typists typed short texts as fast and accurately as possible on a regular QWERTZ keyboard. After baseline measures, a new rule prohibiting the use of the left index finger was introduced. Subsequently, participants took part in either a verbal instruction or an additional motor restriction intervention phase. Results revealed that the original rule change was successful in inducing proactive interference in skilled typists. Most importantly, the two interventions similarly reduced proactive interference both immediately following the rule change and after ten practice sessions. We conclude that reducing proactive interference by means of physical motor restrictions and verbal instructions may be equally effective.