Personality disorders and personality traits in a social phobic sample: predictors for the quality of the therapeutic relationship

Personality traits and disorder features of patients were examined as predictors for the quality of the therapeutic relationship in a sample of social phobic patients receiving a behavioural treatment. The Barrett Lennard Relationship Inventory was used to measure both patient’s (N= 73) and therapist’s perception (N= 68) of the quality of the therapeutic relationship at the third treatment session. Paranoid and obsessive compulsive features showed negative correlations with the patient’s perception. The sumscore of all personality disorder criteria fulfilled was able to predict 14% of variance of the quality of the therapeutic relationship as perceived by the patient. Paranoid features showed a negative correlation with the therapist’s perception of the therapeutic relationship. Hostility was able to predict 21% of the variance in the quality of the therapeutic relationship as perceived by the therapist. The findings are discussed in the light of treatment efficacy issues for social phobia