| Abstract: | Mental health values consist of the subset of values that refer to what constitutes good mental health. Torrey (1972) suggested that agreement between patient and therapist about such values may influence psychotherapy outcome. The authors found mixed support for this hypothesis using a sample of 100 chemical dependency inpatients. Positive treatment effects were associated with pretreatment agreement between counselor and patient about some mental health values, but with pretreatment disagreement about others. Because outcome measures assess general personality functioning, the authors suggest that attitudes about what constitutes good mental health may predict general psychotherapy effects as well as response to alcoholism treatment. |
