Client-Articulated Avoidance Goals in the Therapy Context

This research investigated the relationship between clients’ pursuit of avoidance (relative to approach) therapy goals and change in subjective well-being (SWB) from the beginning to the end of therapy. Results indicated that clients with more avoidance therapy goals evidenced a smaller increase in SWB over the course of therapy than those with fewer avoidance goals. Mediational analyses indicated that avoidance therapy goals predicted lower therapist satisfaction, lower therapist satisfaction predicted lower perceptions of therapy effectiveness (perceived problem improvement and perceived goal progress), and these lower perceptions of therapy effectiveness proximally predicted the observed change in SWB. Ancillary analyses linked the adoption of avoidance therapy goals to early parental loss through separation/divorce or death.