Client and therapist verbal behavior in 10 diverse transcripts of psychotherapy was coded according to Stiles's taxonomy of verbal response modes. As found in previous research, therapists of different theoretical persuasions used very different mixtures of verbal techniques. However, clients had similar mode profiles despite the differences in therapist mode use. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the common elements that make verbal interaction psychologically therapeutic lie in the behavior of the client rather than the behavior of the therapist.

This study examined the relationship between interpersonal intimacy and measures of loneliness, social skills, and social activity. Results revealed that dispositional level of self-disclosure was inversely related to loneliness and interacted with disclosure flexibility: Appropriate medium disclosure across situations was associated with lower levels of loneliness than was inappropriate disclosure. Peer and observer ratings of social skills were positively related to dispositional disclosure but not to disclosure flexibility or level of loneliness. Finally, among lonely subjects there was a trend for disclosure flexibility to be associated with different levels of social activity. The results suggest that lonely individuals have difficulty appropriately revealing personal information in new relationships and nonstructured social situations. Implications for treatment planning are also discussed.

Sixteen female volunteers participated in a study comparing the effects of Kegel exercises to an attention placebo and a waiting list control condition. All subjects had a low (<30%) frequency of coital orgasm but were not severely sexually anxious or low in sexual arousal. The Kegel program led to an average increase in pubococcygeal strength of 10 mm; there was a trend for this change to be greater than that in the control groups. Nevertheless, the Kegel exercise group clearly did not show differential improvement on coital orgasmic frequency at posttest when compared to the other two groups. Furthermore, notable compliance problems were encountered with the instructions for 20 min of daily exercise. On the basis of these findings and prior research, it is concluded that Kegel exercises are unlikely to contribute to positive outcome in the treatment of orgasmic dysfunction in women.Kegel exercises for strengthening the pubococcygens (the muscle surrounding the anus, urethra, and vagina) have been commonly prescribed in the treatment of female orgasmic dysfunction (e.g., Barbach, 1980;Kline-Graber & Graber, 1975). Their use has been based on uncontrolled reports by Kegel (1951Kegel ( , 1952 that women who practiced these exercises for urinary incontinence often reported increased vaginal sensation and ability to reach coital orgasm. Kegel's findings were buttressed by a retrospective correlational study (Graber & Kline-Graber, 1979) in which pubococcygeal (PC) strength was found to be higher in orgasmic than anorgasmic women. Nevertheless, in the only controlled, prospective investigation to date Chambless and her colleagues failed to find the predicted relationship between PC strength and orgasmic responsiveness (Chambless et al., 1982). Consequently, these investigators hypothesized that to the extent that Kegel exercises facilitate attaining orgasm, the effect might well be due to non-The authors wish to thank Alan Goldstein for his contributions to the design of this study, Anna J. Williams for her assistance in developing the attention placebo, Marsha Bancroft for serving as nurse practitioner, and Leona Aiken and Craig Caputo for their consultation on data analysis.

Examined the relationship between marital intimacy and self‐disclosure from a multidimensional framework within a sample of 10 clinical and 10 nonclinical married couples. The linear combination of various parameters of self‐disclosing behavior was able to account for 71.7% (R = 0.853) of the variance in intimacy ratings derived from a structured interview. Results are discussed in terms of both the role that self‐disclosure plays in the development of marital intimacy and its therapeutic benefits and limitations in marital therapy.

The relationship of pubococcygeal condition to orgasmic responsiveness in 102 women from a university community was examined in a controlled, prospective investigation. Pubococcygeal strength was measured with a perineometer while responsiveness was assessed by a standardized interview yielding reliable measures of self-reported orgasmic response. Subjects whose responsiveness might have been impaired by such factors as alcohol consumption, inadequate stimulation, and high sexual anxiety were excluded from analyses. Excellent within-session but poor across-session test-retest reliability of the perineometer measures was noted. Initial Strength Contracting proved to be the most reliable measure. Though the majority of the parous women had performed Kegel exercises after delivery, parity was negatively related to pubococcygeal strength on most measures. Contrary to experimental hypotheses, pubococcygeal strength was not found to be positively related to frequency or self-reported intensity of orgasm. Furthermore, women with higher pubococcygeal strength did not report that vaginal stimulation contributed more to attainment of orgasm, nor did they rate vaginal sensations during coitus as more pleasurable. Only in the case of pleasurability of orgasm through clitoral stimulation was a significant, though low, relationship obtained. Possible factors contributing to the discrepancy between these findings and previous uncontrolled investigations are discussed, as are the implications of these findings for the use of Kegel exercises in the treatment of orgasmic dysfunction.