'Interaction structures' between depressed adolescents and their therapists in short-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy and cognitive behavioural therapy.

OBJECTIVE: Identify the core 'interaction structures' between therapists and depressed adolescents within and across two common forms of psychotherapy. METHOD: A total of 70 audio-recorded psychotherapy sessions representing short-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy (STPP) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with youth aged 12-18 years old were coded with the Adolescent Psychotherapy Q-set (APQ), a newly developed instrument. Data included different therapist-patient dyads and stages in treatment and were analysed with cluster analysis. RESULTS: Three distinct interaction structures between therapists and depressed adolescents: two influenced by the therapists' techniques and one more influenced by the young people's attitude to therapy. CONCLUSION: When there is a collaborative working relationship between therapists and depressed young people, the therapy process is influenced by the therapists' techniques; while when there is a poor working relationship, the techniques used by therapists of different theoretical orientation become more similar with the aim of engaging the young person in the process.

Expert clinicians' prototypes of an ideal child treatment in psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral therapy: Is mentalization seen as a common process factor?

OBJECTIVE: To investigate (a) whether expert clinicians within psychodynamic therapy (PDT) and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) agree on key features of child psychotherapy process using the Child Psychotherapy Process Q-Set (CPQ); (b) whether these two prototypes can be empirically distinguished; and (c) whether promoting mentalization (operationalized as reflective functioning [RF]) is a shared component of the way expert clinicians conceptualize these two treatment models. METHOD: Thirty-one raters with expertise in PDT, CBT, and RF provided ratings of the 100 CPQ items to describe an ideal prototype session that adheres to the principles of their treatment model. Two Q-factor analyses with varimax rotation were conducted. RESULTS: Expert clinicians reached a high level of agreement on their respective PDT and CBT prototypes. These prototypes loaded onto two independent factors. The RF process prototype loaded onto both factors. CONCLUSIONS: From the theoretical perspective of expert clinicians representing PDT and CBT, a focus on RF appears to be a common process factor in the way both treatment models are conceptualized. The CPQ can also be a useful instrument in teaching psychotherapy process from different theoretical perspectives and training future clinicians in their application. Future researchers can use these prototypes to explore process in actual sessions.

Psicoterapia de Crianças: Desenvolvimento da Versão em Português do Child Psychotherapy Q-Set / Children's Psychotherapy: Development of a Portuguese version of the Child Psychotherapy Q-Set

RESUMO A literatura científica reconhece a necessidade de aprofundar o conhecimento sobre o processo terapêutico de crianças, compreendendo os mecanismos pelos quais se produzem mudanças. Para isso, precisamos de instrumentos que viabilizem tais investigações. O objetivo deste estudo foi traduzir e adaptar para o português brasileiro o Child Pychotherapy Q-Set (CPQ), instrumento que visa à análise do processo psicoterapêutico de crianças. O estudo foi desenvolvido em quatro etapas, avaliando-se a equivalência entre a versão traduzida e o instrumento original em quatro áreas: equivalência semântica, idiomática, experiencial e conceitual. Constatou-se que a versão em português do CPQ apresentou boa equivalência com a original e a fidedignidade interavaliadores foi satisfatória. As possibilidades de utilização oferecidas pelo CPQ foram discutidas.

ABSTRACT Scientific literature recognizes the need to increase knowledge on child psychotherapeutic process, understanding the mechanisms by which changes occur. In order to do this, we need instruments that will make possible such investigations. The aim of this study was to translate and adapt to Brazilian Portuguese the Child Psychotherapy Q-Set (CPQ), an instrument that aims to analyze the psychotherapeutic process of children. The study was conducted in four stages, assessing the equivalence between the translated version and the original instrument in four areas: semantic equivalence, idiomatic, experiential and conceptual. It was found that the Portuguese version of the CPQ presented good equivalence with the original and the interrater reliability was satisfactory. The possibilities provided by the CPQ were discussed.