Previous psychotherapy research has examined several factors explaining satisfaction with psychotherapists, such as gender (e.g., Zlotnick et al., 1998) or level of experience (e.g., Baekeland and Lundwall, 1975). However, few studies have examined this question (Conte et al., 1995 Ogrodniczuk et al., 2007). Among the factors influencing client satisfaction, it is likely that how the psychotherapist behaves at first sight, i.e., the first impression that he or she makes, will have a direct impact on client satisfaction. Indeed, meta-analyzes show attrition rates between 35% (Roos and Werbart, 2013) and 47% (Wierzbicki and Pekarik, 1993). More fundamentally, client dissatisfaction may be a predictor of dropouts (Bados et al., 2007 Samstag et al., 2008), which are frequent in helping relationships. It is important to encourage a high level of client satisfaction within a therapeutic relationship because this influences therapeutic outcomes not only by decreasing the presence of symptoms (e.g., Conte et al., 1995) but also by increasing treatment compliance (Vermeire et al., 2001).
#FIRST THERAPY SESSION WITH A CLIENT PROFESSIONAL#
In the present paper, we examine whether this is also the case in the context of a new professional psychotherapeutic relationship and thus whether the first contact with a psychotherapist will be decisive for client satisfaction and the continuation of the relationship. Whether an interlocutor leaves a good or a bad impression has consequences on whether the relationship will continue or not (e.g., Human et al., 2013). In human relationships, interlocutors form an impression at the beginning of a new relationship (e.g., Fiske and Neuberg, 1990 Bodenhausen et al., 2012).
These findings are discussed and suggest that therapists may need to be flexible and adapt their behaviors according to their client's interpersonal profile to increase their client satisfaction and decrease drop outs. Dominant clients were found to be more satisfied with the dominant psychotherapist than the submissive one while submissive clients preferred only the warm psychotherapist. They revealed that agency was also a determinant of client satisfaction and that its effects depended on the client's own interpersonal agentic profile. Results confirmed that warmth was a major dimension predicting client satisfaction. They successively watched a role-playing therapist behaving according to five randomized interpersonal profiles. Seventy-five participants had to imagine themselves as potential clients arriving for a first therapy session. To test our hypotheses and control for alternative therapy-related explanatory variables, we used different videos as experimental conditions manipulating the therapist's behaviors.
We therefore tested the role of the psychotherapist's agentic behaviors since only a few studies provide contradictory results about the role of this interpersonal dimension on clients' satisfaction and how it is influenced by matching up client and therapist's profiles.
Examining the role of warm behaviors is however insufficient according to the interpersonal perspective. The importance of psychotherapists' warmth on clients' satisfaction was examined to check previous findings stressing this determining factor. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of psychotherapists' behaviors during a first simulated therapy session on clients' satisfaction, including their intention to pursue or drop out from therapy.
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