Toward identification of the therapeutically facilitative factor

✍ Scribed by Thomas Collingwood; Thomas Hefele; Nancy Muehlberg; James Drasgow

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1970
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 208 KB
• Volume: 26
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9762
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-4679(197001)26:1<119::aid-jclp2270260135>3.0.co;2-7

✦ Synopsis

A recent paper(6) reported the results of a factor analysis of the intercorrelations among the therapeutically facilitative core conditions of empathy (E), respect (R) , genuineness (G) , and concreteness (C), which revealed that a single factor accounted for practically all of the therapeutic action. We worked on identifying the factor and finally decided not to devote our energies to defending a label-one Spearman G was enough. But when the article was submitted, our journal editor was more courageous and, with his encouragement, we saw considerable merit in his suggestion that the factor could be identified as "being a 'good guy', i.e., friendly, likeable and helpful."

This identification rather accurately describes practically all of the high level successful therapists we know. It also opens up an entirely new research dimension