Audiotape Self-Confrontation in Group Psychotherapy

Abstract

Numerous benefits have been attributed to use of playback during psychotherapy. To test its usefulness, 24 inmates at a federal women's prison were randomly divided into an audiotape-playback group, a regular therapy group, and a non-therapy control group. All Ss were administered a Q-sort measure immediately before and following a 6-wk. therapy or control period. The three groups did not significantly differ on any of the three Q-sort indices used. Taped excerpts from the two experimental groups showed that the playback Ss were significantly more verbally productive per unit of time, and it was suggested that playback may have affected the process but not the outcome of psychotherapy.