Clients' and therapists' perspectives on reasons for seeking therapy

This study examined whether therapists and clients view clients' motives for seeking therapy differently, as predicted by the divergent perspectives hypothesis which states that actors have a tendency to see their own behavior as being caused by external factors, whereas observers may perceive the causes to be internal. Participants were divided into three groups: 21 clients who gave their motives in seeking therapy, 28 therapists who gave the reasons why they felt clients sought therapy, and 15 therapists who responded to the hypothetical situation of why they themselves would seek counseling if the need arose. Direction was given to orient responses to the dimension of internal-external forces for all groups. Contrary to expectations, the results indicate that therapists and clients did not view clients' motives for seeking therapy from different perspectives.