Trainee Therapist Personality, Technique Usage, and Helpfulness

Abstract

The goal of the present study was to explore how trainee therapists’ differential technique usage and perceived helpfulness ratings of the techniques used in therapy relate to their personality characteristics. The NEO-FFI-3 was administered to 59 clinical and counseling graduate students prior to training to assess their self-reported personality traits. Then, during their first therapy course, trainees conducted four therapy sessions with a volunteer client. Trainees watched the videotape of their third session and rated the techniques they perceived themselves to have used and their view of how helpful those interventions were. Results showed a significant, negative relationship between trainee conscientiousness and their use of interventions aimed at helping clients identify contradictions in their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Moreover, significant associations were found between two personality traits and trainees’ perceived helpfulness ratings of their technique usage. Specifically, as trainees’ neuroticism increased, their perception of how helpful they were in helping their client gain a new perspective decreased. Conversely, as their extroversion increased, they perceived themselves to have been more helpful in assisting clients in gaining a new perspective. Notably, all statistically significant findings had a moderate effect size. Our findings provide preliminary conclusions about the relation between trainee personality characteristics and differential technique usage in sessions, as well as how helpful trainees perceived those techniques to be.