Client cognitive responses to counsellor paradoxical symptom prescription

Abstract

An analogue study was conducted to examine the difference between counsellor paradoxical directives with and without rationale. One hundred and sixty volunteer teacher-trainees viewed a stimulus tape in which a male counsellor delivered paradoxical directives to a male client. Half of the 160 participants viewed a stimulus tape in which the counsellor delivered paradoxical directives of symptom prescription with rationale (rationale condition), whereas the other half viewed a tape in which the counsellor delivered identical directives without rationale (no rationale condition). The participants were then individually instructed to indicate what was passing through their mind when the counsellor delivered the paradoxical directives, what they liked about the interview, and whether they intended to try the counsellor-suggested directives. The results indicated that, compared with the no rationale condition, the participants in the rationale condition liked the ideas more in the counsellor paradoxical directives and answered more affirmatively to the question which asked whether they intended to try the counsellor's directives.