The topics discussed

Therapists’ decisions and actions are affected by, among many other things, client expressions and behaviors. Adaptations of the therapeutic process in response to client expression and behavior can be summarized under the term “therapist responsiveness”. Such therapist responsiveness may operate within the therapeutic relationship, as adaptation of a specific therapeutic technique or as an explicit orientation towards client characteristics.

Therapist responsiveness may represent challenges in psychotherapy research, when studying clinical outcome and mechanisms of change. However, therapist responsiveness may also offer opportunities for developing new assessments and designs for the future of psychotherapy research.

For the 9th Meeting of the European Chapter of the Society for Psychotherapy Research (EU-SPR), we selected the topic of “Therapist Responsiveness: Challenges and Opportunities”.

The European Chapter of SPR thinks it is time to discuss these problems in-depth and to take a step forward in understanding therapist responsiveness, for example its relationship with other variables of the therapeutic relationship, such as the therapeutic alliance, and to contribute to ignite more related research across therapy approaches.

Such a step may just be one on a journey which aims at building a knowledge base which could have an impact on understanding and doing psychotherapy differently than today. The Rome 2022 Chapter Meeting may contribute to this process in various ways.