Sinclair

The Relationships among Effectiveness of Counseling for Trauma and PTSD, Therapeutic Alliance, and Change in Religious Coping as Measured by Client-Focused Assessment

Tonya A. Sinclair

Evidence based treatments for trauma diagnoses range from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to more specialized approaches such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, yet no one approach has been identified as the “gold standard” of treatment (Benish, Imel, Wampold, 2008). Recent studies (Barber, Connolly, Crits-Christoph, Gladis, & Siqueland [2009], Horvath & Symonds, 1991) are indicating that one reason for this is that the working alliance between therapist and client is more important to therapeutic change than the approach used. This alliance, especially when combined with a focus on the reduction of negative religious coping skills (Pargament, Koeing, & Perez, 2000), may be a key factor to approaching trauma treatment. This study looked at the impact of feedback forms and religious coping skills on the overall change for clients reporting trauma symptoms as a reason for attending therapy. Hypothesis (1) stated that those with trauma symptoms were more likely to consider therapy successful when they have a reduced use of negative religious coping skills. Hypothesis (2) stated that there would be a relationship between those who reported a strong working alliance with their therapist and those who reported a decrease in trauma symptoms. The results indicated that a reduction in negative coping skills was correlated with reduction in trauma symptoms. Additional results showed a relationship between the age and experience of the therapist and change in trauma symptoms. The study shows a relationship between the reduction of trauma symptoms in therapy and a lowering of overall symptoms in therapy, which would indicate the importance of trauma work in therapy.

Keywords: outcome evaluations, trauma therapy, religious coping skills, working alliance, counseling outcomes