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ABSTRACT The search for those counsellor-client interaction variables which mediate the level of rapport between participants in counselling sessions remains a major focus, particularly in view of the questions which are arising regarding the reliability and usefulness to practitioners of data from large scale controlled clinical trials of specific treatment procedures delivered via standardized manuals. This study examined one of the major therapy interaction variables-verbal response modes-and evaluated its effectiveness upon the development of the Bond aspect of the Working Alliance. To operationalize this variable, client perceived rapport was assessed every minute via the standardized client procedure described elsewhere. Data suggested that minimal encouragers, reflections of feelings and restatements were the most prominent of the traditional verbal response modes in building rapport, and the usage across the period of 40 to 60 minute interviews varied. Other response modes were also examined. Implications for therapy and training of counselling skills are discussed.
Introduction
A great deal of attention has been focused upon the evaluation and description of specific treatments for specific psychological disorders, culminating most recently in compendia of 'empirically supported psychological therapies' (Kendall, 1998, p. 3). However, there is also considerable evidence that this approach has produced little of lasting value to the practising counselling psychologist (Persons & Silberschatz, 1998), principally because it relies upon the use of data collected from randomized controlled clinical trials. Seligman (1995) argued that randomized controlled clinical trials are the 'wrong method for empirically validating psychotherapy because (they) omit too many crucial elements of what is done in the field' (p. 966), including: open-ended (versus fixed-term) duration for treatment; self correction by the therapist when a particular strategy does not have the desired effect; spontaneous entry to therapy by clients with the therapist of their choice (as opposed to random allocation used in controlled clinical trials); single and clearly-defined presenting problems (clients in the field often have multiple concerns and issues); and a concern with general life functioning and satisfaction (versus the symptomatic improvement in indices of psychopathology used in clinical controlled trials). Thus, the search for definition of those critical factors which are associated with positive client outcomes on a broad basis may be better focused upon other elements of the therapist-client interaction than simply the type of...