Psychotherapists' impressions of treatment outcome as a function of race

One hundred sixty-four black and white patients, evenly divided by race, were seen in individual psychotherapy for a mean of more than 31 treatment hours. Half the patients in each group were in racially similar therapist-patient matches and half in racially dissimilar pairings. Assessments of treatment outcomes and personality descriptions of patients were obtained from therapists after termination. White therapists generally rated their clients, and especially their black clients, as psychologically more impaired than did black therapists. Adjective descriptions revealed important differences in the perception of black and white clients by therapists of the two races. In the view of therapists, all patients improved as a result of treatment, and black and white patients, with few exceptions, appeared to benefit about equally. Contrary to expectation, there were no differences in psychotherapy outcome as a function of client-therapist racial match.