The current study explores gender stereotypes among Swedish university students (n=101) studying a course in psychology, using a matched-guise experimental design. The gender identity of a speaker in a dialogue, manifested by voice, was digitally manipulated to sound male or female. Responses to the recordings indicated that an actor with a male voice was rated significantly less conscientious, agreeable, extraverted, and open to experience than the same actor with a female voice. On social behavior, there was a tendency for the actor with a male voice to be rated as more hostile than the same actor with a female voice. The study suggests that stereotype effects rather than real behavioral differences may have an impact on perceived gender differences.

This study investigated whether parental caregiving burden changed during adjunct multi-family therapy of adolescent anorexia nervosa and eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS) and whether caregiver burden at baseline and changes in caregiver burden during treatment were associated with treatment outcome.

Twenty-four females, 13 to 16 years old, and their parents, participated in the study. Caregiver burden was measured with the Eating Disorders Symptom Impact Scale, by mothers (n = 23) and fathers (n = 22). Treatment outcome was measured by adolescent body mass index, level of global functioning and self-rated eating disorder symptoms by the Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire 4.0.

All patient outcomes improved and overall caregiver burden decreased significantly during treatment. When broken down in aspects of caregiver burden the decrease in parental perceived isolation, was found to be associated with improvement of BMI and Children's Global Assessment Scale. When analyzing fathers and mothers separately, we found that maternal feelings of guilt and paternal perceived burden of dysregulated behaviors at base-line were correlated to treatment outcome. Future studies are needed to clarify the role of caregiver burden as a potential mediator of treatment results.

Status och makt påverkar hur vi pratar och förhåller oss till varandra. Några kända makthierarkier handlar om kön, klass, etnicitet, ålder och funktionsnedsättning. Dessa utspelar sig i alla relationella sammanhang – även i psykoterapi.

Relationen mellan klient och terapeut är inte jämlik. Terapeuten har mer makt utifrån sin utbildning och anställning, medan klienten ofta är i kris eller har svårigheter och är i behov av den hjälp som terapeuten kan erbjuda. Vilka former av makt kan gestalta sig i samtalet och hur kan makten påverka psykoterapin?

Den här boken vill bidra till ökad förståelse för vad makt är, hur den yttrar sig i psykoterapi och hur makt kan utjämnas. Vinsterna med maktutjämning är många. Det kan stärka alliansen och samarbetet mellan klient och terapeut, göra terapeuten mer träffsäker i sina bedömningar, vara en hjälp i att anpassa behandlingsupplägget – och därmed bidra till färre avhopp och ett bättre utfall av terapin.

Författaren undersöker och ger kunskap om jämställdhet, mångfald, fördomar och normer. Här finns också fördjupande kapitel om genus/kön, sexualitet, allians, språk och kommunikation, samt fallexempel med maktanalyser. De teoretiska verktyg som genomsyrar innehållet är kulturpsykologi, intersektionalitet och normkritik. Författaren visar också hur dessa perspektiv kan införlivas i en fallkonceptualisering i KBT med maktperspektiv. Till varje kapitel finns reflektionsfrågor och övningar som hjälper läsaren att öka sin medvetenhet om makt och att omsätta kunskapen i praktisk handling.

Boken vänder sig till psykolog- och psykoterapistuderande samt till yrkesverksamma psykologer, psykoterapeuter, psykiatri- och vårdpersonal.

Objectives: This study investigated the relationships between client personality traits, and changes in those traits after cognitive behavioral or psychodynamic short-term therapy, and clients' perceived working alliances with their therapists and their clinical outcomes at a university training clinic in Sweden.

Design: This was a longitudinal study, with the measures collected at pre- and post-therapy.

Methods: The sample consisted of 138 clients with moderate psychological symptoms. Personality traits were measured using the Health-Relevant Personality Inventory, a health-relevant instrument that measures five factors.

Results: The results showed that Antagonism, Impulsivity, Hedonic Capacity, and Negative Affectivity improved significantly during therapy, while Alexithymia did not. Pre-therapy personality traits were not related to perceived working alliances (as measured by the Working Alliance Inventory) or therapeutic outcomes (as measured by the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation Outcome Measure). Post-therapy personality traits negative affectivity, hedonic capacity and alexithymia were related to working alliance, and changes in personality traits were predictive of therapy outcome. The change in Hedonic Capacity and Negative Affectivity explained about 20% of the variance in post-therapy symptoms after controlling for pre-therapy symptoms.

Conclusions: The results suggest that therapeutic foci on hedonism (extraversion) and negative affectivity (neuroticism) could be important for working alliance formation and symptom reduction in therapy. Future research should examine whether changes in clients' negative affectivity or hedonic capacity mediates the relation between perceived working alliance quality and clinical outcome in training and other psychotherapeutic contexts.

The relationship between what a client writes when communicating with an online therapist and treatment outcome in internet-based cognitive behavior therapy (ICBT) is largely unknown. The aim of this study was to address if written correspondence from the client to the therapist correlates with outcome and treatment completion. A total of 29 participants with mild to moderate depression were included from an ongoing randomized controlled trial targeting depression. Content analysis involving ten categories was performed on all emails and module responses sent by the participants to their internet therapist. A total of 3756 meaning units were identified and coded. Significant positive correlations were found between change in depression and statements in the two categories “observing positive consequences” (r = .49) and “alliance” (r = .42). Treatment module completion correlated with seven categories. The result suggests that text dealing with alliance and observing positive consequences can be used as indicators of how the treatment is progressing. This study suggests that written correspondence from an online client can be divided into ten categories and the frequency of those can be used by internet therapists to individualize treatment and perhaps make ICBT more effective.

This study investigated changes in trainees’ self-rated experience as a therapist over the course of one practicum treatment case in basic psychotherapy education in Sweden. Undergraduate students (n = 76) provided longitudinal information on their healing involvement and stressful work involvement. The results of the Development of Psychotherapists Common Core Questionnaire (DPCCQ) demonstrated that trainees’ basic relational skills, technical skills, perceived difficulties, and constructive coping strategies changed linearly, with an increasing slope. Technical expertise changed the most, and relational skills developed moderately. In-session feelings of anxiety and boredom did not change. The individualized reliable change scores show that the process during training is different for different students. Most students did not change at all, and some students even changed negatively. Investigation of how pedagogic variables affect therapists’ development is necessary to support the professional growth of trainees in their involvement with different types of psychotherapy.

This effectiveness study explored the outcomes of 187 clients seen by 187 students undergoing baseline training in psychotherapy. Clients reduced their symptoms (SCL-90) and increased their positive self-image (SASB introject) during the therapy. Multiple regression analyses showed no differences between the cognitive and the psychodynamic training approaches and no differences between one and two semesters duration of the therapies. However, 2 - 3% of variance in end states was accounted for by the interaction between the variables, indicating a moderating effect of duration in the two approaches. Outcomes for clients in the cognitive training approach were significantly better with two semesters than with one semester, while there was no such difference in the psychodynamic approach. Consequences for baseline training are discussed.

The study utilized a generalizability theory analysis of adherence and competence ratings to evaluate the number of sessions and patients needed to yield dependable scores at the patient and therapist levels. Independent judges' ratings of supportive expressive therapy (n = 94), cognitive therapy (n = 103), and individual drug counseling (n = 98) were obtained on tapes of sessions from the NIDA Collaborative Cocaine Treatment Study. Generalizability coefficients revealed that, for all three treatments, ratings made on approximately five to 10 sessions per patient are needed to achieve sufficient dependability at the patient level. At the therapist level, four to 14 patients need to be evaluated (depending on the modality), to yield dependable scores. Many studies today use fewer numbers.