A Survey of Patients' Experiences

A questionnaire surveying patients' experiences of and attitudes toward physical contact in psychotherapy was used to test and extend Gelb's (1982) identification of four factors associated with patients' positive and negative evaluations of touch in psychotherapy: (1) clarity regarding boundaries of therapy; (2) congruence of touch; (3) patient's perception of being in control of the physical contact; and (4) patient's perception that touch is for his/her benefit rather than the therapist's. Two additional hypotheses tested were: (1) whether the degree of therapeutic alliance (as measured by the Working Alliance Inventory-Horvath & Greenberg, 1986) can help predict patient evaluation of touch, and (2) whether potential for sexual attraction in the therapy dyad is inversely related to positive evaluation of touch. Results supported a positive relationship between both GeW s factors and the WAI and patients' positive evaluations of touch in therapy. No generalizations regarding negative touch can be made