Interpersonal contribution to outcome: the relation of interpersonal distress and symptomatic improvement as a result of psychotherapy

Abstract

The study utilized a 32-item brief measure of interpersonal problems (IIP) to examine interpersonal distress in relation to symptomology and treatment outcome as assessed by the Outcome Questionnaire-45 (OQ-45). The study included a community sample of 210 individuals receiving psychotherapy at a mental health training facility. A number of significant correlations were found between interpersonal distresses with symptomology. The highest correlations were found between levels of general interpersonal distress and symptoms relating to psychiatric and social distress at the onset of therapy; in general the IIP did not differentiate between symptomology types. The study failed to replicate previous research indicating a relation between facets of interpersonal problems with treatment outcome.

Interpersonal Subtypes and Therapy Response in Patients Treated for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

“…Taken together, studies where samples were divided into subgroups according to interpersonal style tend to show that submissive and, to a lesser degree, cold patients tend to have a worse prognosis. This is in contrast to mixed findings when analysing correlations between axis scores and outcomes in whole samples (e.g., Borkovec, Newman, Pincus, & Lytle, ; Hardy, Tracey, Glidden‐Tracey, Hess, & Rohlfing, ). Most frequently, cluster analyses have yielded groupings that were pretty evenly spaced around the circumplex and could readily be interpreted with reference to the two axes.…”

Childhood trauma and adult interpersonal relationship problems in patients with depression and anxiety disorders

“…The measure is based on a theoretical circumplex structure of interpersonal behavior and has received considerable research support on its structural validity [ 39 ]-[ 41 ]. It yields global interpersonal distress, two dimensional scores of dominance distress and affiliation distress, and octant scores which indicate eight dimensions of interpersonal problems constituting a circumplex of personality: domineering/controlling (PA), vindictive/self-centered (BC), cold/distant(DE), socially inhibited (FG), nonassertive (HI), overly accommodating (JK), self-sacrificing (LM), and intrusive/needy (NO) [ 42 ]. Figure 1 describes the circumplex structure of Inventory of Interpersonal Problems.…”