This study explored the effects of consistent and inconsistent combinations of paradoxical and nonparadoxical interpretations and directives in brief counseling with moderately depressed college students. We hypothesized that a consistent paradoxical intervention (paradoxical interpretations and directives) would be more effective than inconsistent interventions, which in turn would be more effective than a consistent nonparadoxical intervention. Forty-nine moderately depressed college students who wanted to change were randomly assigned to four interview intervention conditions and a no-treatment control condition. In the intervention conditions, students received two interviews with counselors who gave six interpretations and two directives over the course of the interviews. Students in the intervention conditions decreased their depression more than did students in the control condition. Paradoxical interpretations were associated with more symptom remission than were nonparadoxical interpretations, whereas the nature of the directives students received made little difference: Whether the interventions were consistent or inconsistent made little difference on changes in depression, but students had more favorable impressions of their counselors when interpretations and directives were consistent. The impact of the interventions on students' attributions of the cause of therapeutic change was also explored.
Strong (1970) proposed that a counselor could change a client's view of self by controlling the client's information about norms, alternative actions, and personal history. These hypotheses were tested in a two-step experiment in which college students first reacted to a standard event and then reviewed their reactions in an interview in which the interviewer controlled the information the students had to evaluate their actions. A strong effect of trait labeling and analysis of alternatives was observed, but the other variables had no effects. The results confirmed that a statement of opinion by an expert can have powerful effects on an individual's thinking.
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