The relationship between therapist and client hope with therapy outcomes

The current study examined whether clients' perceptions of hope and therapists' hope in their clients were associated with therapy outcomes. The authors conducted a naturalistic study of brief therapy with 10 therapists and 43 adult clients. Client-rated hope significantly increased after one session of therapy. However, no significant relationship was found between pretherapy client-rated hope and first-session symptom change. Further, client-rated hope at any point in therapy was not significantly related to therapy outcomes. Therapists' hope in their clients after the first and last sessions was significantly related to client outcomes. Implications for therapy practice and research are offered.