Investigation of factors involved in therapists' annoyance with clients.

Abstract

One hundred one counselors/therapists from 13 agencies completed a 16-item questionnaire describing their reactions to behaviors of three clients that a previous study had shown were irritating or annoying to therapists. The subjects' reactions to certain "rules" of therapy and their ambiguity tolerance were also examined. Counselors' reactions were most negative to client impositions and attacks and least negative to client resistance and involvement in client dynamics. Several rules were significantly correlated with counselors' annoyance, but there was no relationship with counselors' ambiguity tolerance.Therapists' annoyance or anger with clients has largely been ignored in the research literature, but a number of authors have discussed their clinical observations of therapists' anger and its impact on clients. Cahill (1981), Rothenberg (1971), and Rubin (1969 all stressed anger as a positive, caring drive. Cahill (1981) made an important distinction wherein anger occurs in the context of a relationship in which the object of the anger is trusted and pursued. In contrast, he suggested that hostility originates in disappointment, rejection, and punitiveness.Anger, however, has its more noxious aspects, often arising in situations in which the individual feels less powerful, useful, whole, or valued (e.g., Gaylord, 1984;Rothenberg, 1971). Novaco (1976) implicated anxiety in the arousal of anger, suggesting that anger functions as an ego defense, a protective reaction to feelings of vulnerability.For therapists there is also the danger that annoyance/anger at clients' behavior might be a manifestation of countertransference and, as such, might be a reflection of the therapist's own unresolved neuroses. Discussing negative countertransference, Singer (1965) commented that "it is important to distinguish between realistic negative attitudes such as annoy-SUZANNE R. FREMONT received her PhD in psychology from the University of Missouri at Columbia and is currently Assistant Director of the Counseling Center at the State University of New York College at Cortland. Her interests include the training of counseling professionals and outreach programming in campus communities. WAYNE ANDERSON has a PhD in psychology from the University of Missouri at Columbia and is presently Chair of the Joint Training Program in Counseling Psychology. He has a dual appointment at the University of Missouri as a professor of psychology and as a counseling psychologist with the Counseling Services. His research interests are the psychology of the aggressive offender (murder and rape) and the effects of counselor self-disclosure on client behavior. He has recently coauthoredBwftmiu:^ Book/or Therapist and Client.

Negative outcome in psychotherapy: A critical review.

“…Even the most seasoned therapist cannot remain immune to the patients negative, often angry reactions. Indeed, therapists’ negative emotions toward patients can be common (Fremont & Anderson, 1988). A typical therapist response to such a patient in Strupp's study was some form of coldness or rejection, such as distancing.…”

"Negative process": A recurrently discovered and underestimated facet of therapeutic process and outcome in the individual psychotherapy of adults.

“…Surveying therapists about hypothetical situations or general therapy‐related topics is a form of analogue strategy that is considered to yield more convincing data than the older analogue methods. Over 20 years after the completion of Strupp's analogue research, Fremont and Anderson (1988) surveyed over 100 therapists about what sorts of patient behavior “annoys” them and about factors associated with the proneness of a therapist to become annoyed. Their findings indicated that therapists tend to be annoyed with patients who engage in behavior of which therapists disapprove, particularly dependent, demanding behavior, and hostile, negativistic, and rejecting behavior.…”

Emotion Regulation for Counselors

“…In examining psychotherapists' perceptions of stressful client behavior, Farber (1983) found that aggression and hostility directed toward the therapist was the second most stressful behavior, second only to suicidal statements. Fremont and Anderson (1988) discovered that the most anger-provoking client behaviors were clients' impositions and verbal attacks toward counselors.…”