Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) refer to any report coming directly from patients about how they function or feel in relation to a health condition or its therapy. PROs have been applied in medicine for the assessment of the impact of clinical phenomena. Self-report scales and procedures for assessing physical pain in adults have been developed and used in clinical trials. However, insufficient attention has been dedicated to the assessment of mental pain. The aim of this paper is to outline the implications that assessment of mental pain may entail in psychiatry and medicine, with particular reference to a clinimetric index. A simple 10-item self-rating questionnaire, the Mental Pain Questionnaire (MPQ), encompasses the specific clinical features of mental pain and shows good clinimetric properties (i.e., sensitivity, discriminant and incremental validity). The preliminary data suggest that the MPQ may qualify as a PRO measure to be included in clinical trials. Assessment of mental pain may have important clinical implications in intervention research, both in psychopharmacology and psychotherapy. The transdiagnostic features of mental pain are supported by its association with a number of psychiatric disorders, such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, as well as borderline personality disorder. Further, addressing mental pain may be an important pathway to prevent and diminish the opioid epidemic. The data summarized here indicate that mental pain can be incorporated into current psychiatric assessment and included as a PRO measure in treatment outcome studies.
Background With a lack of experimental designs that explore which therapeutic style is helpful for which patient, the aim of this study was to test the feasibility of experimentally varying the therapeutic style under realistic conditions and to investigate how this affects alliance ratings by clients and counselors. Methods We defined two manualized therapeutic styles (neutral/distant relational style vs. high affiliation relational style) based on the interpersonal circumplex. In a randomized two-group design, 64 healthy university students (70% female, Mage = 23.78, SDage = 2.81) received a single psychological counseling session on interpersonal conflicts by one of four counselors and in one of the two styles. We checked the manipulation success using observer-rated degree of affiliation and ratings of counselors’ interpersonal behavior with the Interpersonal Message Inventory (IMI-R). A series of linear regression models analyzed whether the style predicted working alliance, assessed via the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI). Results In accordance with the hypotheses, significant differences in the rated degree of affiliation (p ≤ .001) and IMI-R ratings (p ≤ .001 in friendly, p = .003 in hostile dimension) were found between the two groups. Overall, alliance ratings were high across groups and raters (WAI overall scores ranging from 3.76 to 4.07). The style did not predict clients’ alliance ratings. Conclusion The experimental variation of the therapeutic style proved feasible under realistic conditions with high overall alliance ratings. The novel experimental design may provide a basis for further research.
Im Zuge der Anfänge der Verhaltenstherapie (VT) und der “kognitiven Wende” wurde der aktiven Beziehungsgestaltung und damit verbundenen Faktoren zunächst nur zweitrangig Beachtung geschenkt, obwohl die Bedeutung der Beziehung zwischen Therapeut und Patient auch in der VT bereits relativ früh erkannt wurde. Seitdem hat sich die VT substanziell weiterentwickelt. Insbesondere die aktive Gestaltung der therapeutischen Beziehung in Abhängigkeit verschiedener Variablen ist mittlerweile fester Bestandteil einer jeden VT. In dieser Übersichtsarbeit werden Konzepte der Beziehungsgestaltung dargestellt, welche der VT zugerechnet und im Rahmen der Ausbildung im deutschsprachigen Raum gelehrt werden. Fokussiert wird auf folgende drei Ansatzpunkte: Die Ausrichtung der Beziehung an (1) Therapiephasen, (2) Bedürfnissen, Motiven und Erwartungen sowie (3) frühen traumatisierenden Beziehungserfahrungen. Die aktuelle Studienlage legt nahe, dass pauschalisierte Handlungsempfehlungen zur aktiven Gestaltung der therapeutischen Beziehung zu kurz greifen. Ausgehend von der individuellen Problematik des einzelnen Patienten wird die Realisierung der therapeutischen Beziehung im Sinne einer differentiellen Beziehungsgestaltung beschrieben und diskutiert.
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