Changes in patients' stress and arousal levels associated with therapists' perception of their requests during crisis...

This study examined changes in 32 patients' stress and arousal levels before and after an initial crisis intervention interview, according to the degree of mismatch between patient and therapist perceptions of requests made during the interview. A good match between patient and therapist perceptions was associated with a decrease in patients' stress following the interview. Although patients rated by therapists as more severely disturbed had the highest mismatch scores, it is unlikely that the observed mismatch between patients and therapists is accounted for solely by psychiatric condition. The findings suggest that measuring changes in stress may well provide a valuable means of evaluating patient response to the initial crisis interview.