Expectations in psychotherapy: An overview

Journal title RICERCHE DI PSICOLOGIA
Author/s Lorenzo Antichi, Arianna Cacciamani, Camilla Chelini, Marco Morelli, Stefano Piacentini, Laura Gemma Pirillo
Publishing Year 2022 Issue 2022/1
Language English Pages 19 P. 1-19 File size 0 KB
DOI 10.3280/rip2022oa13574
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Expectations can influence the outcome and the process of psychotherapy. Hence, this article aims to overview the types of expectations, i.e., outcome, treatment and change. Both patients’ and therapists’ expectations are considered. Furthermore, determinants of expectations and moderators/mediators of expectations-outcome relationship are described. We provided theories that try to explain the influence of expectations and their relationship with the psychotherapy process. Various instruments for measuring expectations and practical advice to manage expectations in psychotherapy will be discussed. Clinicians should become increasingly aware of their own and clients’ expectations. Future studies should investigate the impact of every kind of expectation and its moderation/mediation role with other psychotherapy processes. 

Keywords: ; outcome expectations; treatment expectations; change expectations; expectation measures; psychotherapy process outcome research

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Lorenzo Antichi, Arianna Cacciamani, Camilla Chelini, Marco Morelli, Stefano Piacentini, Laura Gemma Pirillo, Expectations in psychotherapy: An overview in "RICERCHE DI PSICOLOGIA" 1/2022, pp 1-19, DOI: 10.3280/rip2022oa13574