Therapeutic relationship and progress in the first six sessions of individual psychotherapy: A panel analysis

The temporal nature of the associations between client-rated therapist empathy and acceptance, and both client-and therapist-assessed therapeutic progress at sessions 2 and 6 were examined pairwise with cross-lagged panel correlatation (CLPC) and linear structural relationships (LISREL) analyses in 37 clients treated in weekly individual sessions of long-term psycoanalytic and person-centred therapy by 37 experienced therapists. Although none of the cross-lagged differences in the three CLPC analyses which met the necessary conditions for interpretation were significant, two of them approached it, suggesting that session 2 client-rated progress was a stronger determinant of session 6 therapist empathy and acceptance than vice versa. However, the LISREL analyses indicated that while session 2 client-rated progress was unrelated to session 6 therapist acceptance, session 2 therapist empathy was negatively correlated with session 6 client-rated progress. furthermore, both session 2 therapist empathy and acceptance were positively associated with session 6 therapist-rated progress, thereby providing some support for the therapeutic role of these two therapist variables as postulated by person-centred theory.