TMatch - Therapeutic Reactance Scale
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Assessment of Directiveness of Therapist

How much do you try to direct or guide what clients discuss during therapy?

Not at all; subjects of discussion
are completely up to clients

I try to guide discussions to stay on
areas relevant to clients' therapy

To what degree is what happens during your therapy planned?

I don't plan what will happen in
therapy sessions ahead of time

I try to closely follow a specific
treatment plan for each client

How often do you give specific advice to clients?

I almost never give
specific advice to clients

I very often give
specific advice to clients

To what degree is your usual method of therapy structured?

My therapy is usually almost
completely unstructured

My therapy is usually
very highly structured

To what extent is your therapy under your control, vs. collaborative with your clients?

My job as an expert therapist is
to guide my non-expert clients

My clients are as expert as myself, so I
am as collaborative with them as possible

In general, how confrontational is your therapy?

My therapy is almost always
completely non-confrontational

My therapy tends to be very
direct and confrontational

In general, how directive are you with clients during therapy?

Not directive at all; I never
give clients explicit directions

Extremely directive; clients are expected
to follow my directions and guidance

To how many of your clients do you assign homework?

I assign homework to
almost none of my clients

I assign homework to
almost every client

When you assign homework to a client, how often do you do this?

I almost never assign
homework to clients

I usually assign homework for
clients after every session

When you assign homework, to what degree is it self-directed by your clients?

Homework is completely
self-directed by clients

Homework has explicit instructions
which should be followed by clients

How comfortable are you using the technique of "paradoxical interventions"
(suggestions for clients to do the opposite of what they should do)?

I never use
this technique

Very comfortable; I use this technique
whenever I feel it might be effective


The matching recommendations for client resistance were that the more resistant the client, the less therapist control, structure and directiveness there should be. Paradoxical interventions were recommended for clients with high resistance. The assessment above was intended to assess therapists on all these factors.