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Should pacifists be made more aggressive so people won’t “step on them”? Should
patients be calm and manageable or allowed to be active and self-directing? These questions
involve judgments that are not scientific.
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4. The available resources and the competition for them. For example, with a large patient population
and a small staff, intensive psychoanalysis may not be possible.
5. The patient’s apparent level of motivation, past history or therapy, and other attributes. In addition,
the environment in which the patient lives or to which he or she will return may also play a role in
the type of treatment instituted.
6. Whether the therapy takes place on an “outpatient” basis, an “inpatient’ basis, within a clinical or
mental hospital institution, or a “halfway-patient” basis in a halfway house setting.
PROCEDURE
Materials
Therapeutic Intervention Coding Form
Students selected to act as therapists read the chapter of Psychology and Life relevant to their “specialty.”
Subjects
10—20 students are ideal; 1 or 2 students to enact each of the two or three different therapist roles, 2
students to enact the client roles, and the rest of the class to act as observers and recorders of the interaction.
Time Required for Research
At least 45 minutes (5 minutes for each of six interviews and 10 minutes for summarizing data analysis).
Time Required for Discussion
10—30 minutes.
Method
1. Select three students a week in advance of the class meeting and assign the following therapist
roles: behavioral, psychoanalytic, and humanist. (You may assign more than one student to each
approach if you would like them to work in teams.) Have them study the relevant material in the
text and give them some supplementary material on the three types of therapy. Have them prepare
their strategy for interviewing the “clients” they will see in class meetings.
2. To facilitate the interviews, you may wish to have the therapists prepare questions they will ask
their clients.
3. Select two or more students prior to the beginning of the class meeting and ask them to play the role
of client. We suggest that you use DSM-IV case summaries, but other descriptions of patients could
also be used. Have these students study their case histories and prepare themselves to play the role
of a client who is seeking professional help. Obviously, they may be asked for information that is
not actually given in the summary. Explain to the students that they should feel free to fabricate
details that are consistent with the role they will be playing. Alternatively, you may play the client
role.
4. Each therapist or therapist team may interview one or both clients.
5. Clients are instructed to role-play being phobic or depressed.
6. To ensure that the therapists will be maximally different in style and content, it is helpful to ask
them to wait outside of the classroom until they have conducted an interview. After conducting an
interview, the therapist could then remain in the class and observe his or her colleagues.
7. Each therapist should also prepare a brief assessment of the patient and recommendations for
treatment. These could be read to the class after everyone has been interviewed.
8. Be sure all parties are aware of the time constraints of this brief “initial” interview.
9. Have the other class members actively participate as observers by coding the therapist’s questions
(to be described in Data Analysis). Instruct them in the coding when therapists are out of the room.
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10. Summarize the conclusions to be drawn from this mock clinical interaction.
PITFALLS TO AVOID
1. Remind students of the seriousness of the clinical encounter and the need to appreciate the
difficulties involved for both therapist and client to create a professional atmosphere for the role-
playing. Try to get students who seem to be good actors to play the client role and those who are
most responsible to play the therapist role. Assigning the roles the previous week gives them more
preparation time but requires “back-up” precautions if any students fail to come to this section. You
might also want to assign “understudies.”
2. Remember to keep an eye on the elapsed time or even set an alarm because the role-playing can get
involved and 5—10 minutes goes by quickly.
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
1. Record on the coding forms every time the therapist asks a clear question, according to whether it
requests information about the client’s past, present, or future, or about the client’s positive or
negative characteristics. For example, “Do you feel sad?”