A naturalistic study of changes in cognitive conflicts during psychotherapy

Abstract

The authors present a proposal to operationalize and assess the change of a type of cognitive confiict called implicative dilemma (iD) in the context of personal construct theory. In a sample of 87 patients, Dls and symptoms are ssessed at the beginning and the end ofthe psychotherapy process. Results suggest that psychotherapy reduces both of them. Moreover, ehe decrease of Dls seems tobe related with symptom improvement, for what, a relation is estimated between the presence of ID and symptom reduction, a result thai should be confirmed in controlled siudies. Ouerall, these results suggest te include protocols te work with dilemmas as a way to improve the bencflts of the psychotherapy for those patienis who have them.