Today in Practicum class we discuss matters around ending treatment or counseling relationships with our counselees. The one that causes interns most consternation is the premature termination by clients after only one session. The trainee is left to wonder why. “Did I fail to connect? Did I say something to offend them? What did I do wrong? Did they figure out I don’t know what I’m doing?” Usually, they report feeling like a failure. Here’s a secret: even experienced therapists feel this at times as well.
Well, let’s start with the murky data. Brogan, Prochaska & Prochaska (v. 36 (1999) of Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice & Training, 105-113) report that various studies reveal a premature termination after just one session stands somewhere between 20 and 57%. Some 30-60% drop out before the counselor thinks they should. And a meta-analytic study (of 125 studies) reports a premature dropout rate of 47%. Even though our research in this area is still weak (we don’t really know what factors to use to report premature dropout), the numbers are pretty high.
So, why do people stop counseling before they should? Why do our clients not return? We really don’t know as much as we would like. We do know that individuals in certain demographics are more likely (lower SES, lower education, minority status) to drop out. But even here, we don’t really know why. Is it client-counselor mismatch? Lack of understanding of the process of counseling? Lack of hope?
We do know that several factors do NOT seem to relate to premature termination (therapy mode, setting, and ages of clients).
While our research is still cloudy, it makes sense to consider the combination of client factors (motivation for personal growth, ability to have insight), environmental factors (financial status, family support or detraction, cultural support), and counselor factors (capacity to empathize and connect with the client’s perceptions, diagnostic and listening skills).
Trainees can ask these questions in their postmortems:
1. Did we share an understanding of the type and severity of the problems?
2. Did I give evidence that I understand their experience (beyond saying so)?
3. Did I give some evidence of the path forward and hope for the future without overselling it?
4. Did I acknowledge potential pit-falls, hopelessness, fear?
5. Was my client the “customer” or was someone else demanding it (e.g. parent)?
Musings on Faith and Psychology 