Client-Clinician Relationships and Concomitant Factors in Stuttering Therapy

Abstract

Interrelationships among client progress in stuttering therapy, the nature of the affect interchange between client and clinician, and certain personality characteristics of both client and clinician were studied. Sixteen young adult male stutterers and their 11 graduate student clinicians served as subjects. Results support observations that the clinicians' and clients' personalities are significant variables in the stuttering therapy situation, support observations that important similarities exist between stuttering therapy and psychotherapy, and suggest that it is more accurate to note stages in the therapeutic relationship, rather than to characterize the relationship as if it were the same throughout therapy.