کلیشه های نقش جنسیتی و رفتار فردی: دیدگاه بیماران معتاد بستری نسبت به درمانگر ایده آل خودشان چگونه است

This study focuses on the influences of self-perceived interpersonal behavior of addicted inpatients (n = 107) on the stereotypes of their ideal male and female therapist. Based on the interpersonal model of personality patients were asked to describe their ideal male and female therapist. Perceptions of interpersonal behavior of the ideal therapist are determined by the self-perceived interpersonal behavior of the patients rather than by their gender. Ideal therapists are described as managerial-autocratic and sociable-extravert, which is in almost perfect accordance with the self-perceptions of therapists. Although most of the patients prefer a female therapist, the interpersonal behavior of a male or a female therapist does not differ significantly. The results are discussed from the viewpoint that mutual expectations and preferences between patients and therapists are thought to be of crucial importance for the outcome of therapy. In the process of matching patients and therapists, these expectations should not only be assessed, but also used to improve the final matching.

Although addiction can be viewed as a chronic condition, there are many successful therapeutic interventions for patients with substance abuse disorders. A high incidence of treatment drop-out for patients in substance abuse programs (50%), however, concerns many researchers and clinicians Copeland & Hall 1992 and Wallen 1992. Studies on the effectiveness of psychotherapy revealed that the therapeutic relationship plays a central role in determining the outcome of therapy. Emphasis was placed on the need for a collaborative relationship between therapist and patient, which includes emotional bonding, a sense of warmth and openness, and mutual expectations of both tasks and goals of therapy (e.g., Barrett-Lennard, 1962 cited in Marziali & Alexander 1991, Connors et al. 1997, Orlinsky and Howard 1986, van Winkel & Hoogenstrijd 1995, Vervaeke et al. 1997 and Walborn 1996). Because therapy involves just the interaction between the therapist, the specific approach to therapy as well as the patient (Bergin & Garfield, 1994), it could be argued that compliance of patients to substance abuse programs is a result of this interaction. Connors et al. (1997) revealed the independent contribution of the therapeutic alliance to treatment participation and outcomes among alcohol-dependent outpatients. De Jong et al. (1993) studied this interaction while focusing on attitudes and behavior of therapists toward male and female alcohol-dependent patients from the interpersonal perspective as presented by Kiesler (1986). Their study pointed out that the male alcohol-dependent stereotype could be summarized as friendly submissive. This study will be complementary to that of De Jong at al. (1993) and will focus on the stereotypes held by male and female substance-dependent or pathological gambling patients toward their (imagined) ideal male and female therapist, thereby suspecting preconceived ideas about male and female therapists forming these stereotypes. On the other hand, descriptions of the ideal male and female therapist are probably the result of differences in prescribed interpersonal behavior according to the interpersonal theory (Kiesler, 1986) possibly evoking a social reaction (interaction hypothesis). The question to be answered in this article, therefore, is: what are characteristics of the ideal male and female therapist when asking substance-dependent or pathological gambling patients; and does this characterization have a stereotypical determination or is this merely the result of an interaction between actual differences in interpersonal behavior?