Research Unit
The Mifrasim Institute for Psychotherapy Research and Teaching aims to promote the connection between the world of research and practice in the field, an issue that is at the center of the agenda of contemporary psychotherapy.
The research unit is engaged in conducting process-outcome studies on therapeutic skills and their impact on treatment outcomes and patient improvement at various stages and according to patient variables.
Research areas
Research areas
Therapist self-disclosure
Therapist self-disclosure
Our research on therapist self-disclosure in therapy is based on the Institute's database and compares the effects of immediate and non-immediate therapist self-disclosure with the effect of therapist avoidance of self-disclosure, while taking into account patient variables.
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Factors affecting the relationship
Between symptomatic improvement
and the subjective experience of improvement in distress
Factors affecting the relationship
Between symptomatic improvement
and the subjective experience of improvement in distress
The indicators used to evaluate treatment outcomes can be divided into indicators of symptomatic improvement versus indicators that relate to the patient's experience of the extent to which the treatment helped them.
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The relationship between therapist-patient synchronization
and treatment results
The relationship between therapist-patient synchronization
and treatment results
One of the main focuses of current research efforts in psychotherapy research is understanding the factors that predict treatment success. The quality of the therapeutic alliance and the therapeutic relationship are among the most significant predictors of treatment outcomes.
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Main research:
The topography of therapeutic interventions
The study of the interrelationships between the influence of specific therapeutic skills ("active technique") and the influence of therapeutic context variables ("non-specific factors") on treatment outcomes constitutes one of the core topics addressed by process research in psychotherapy.
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The Challenge of Ending Treatment: Research in Short-Term Psychotherapy
The challenge of treatment termination: short term psychotherapy research
Hadas Shahrabani supervised by Prof. Eshkol Refaeli, Bar-Ilan University
On insight and sensitivity: balancing interpretation-support in the core phase of treatment
and its contribution to treatment outcomes
Elad Levena under the guidance of Prof. Tuvia Perry, Director of the Community Service Clinic
of the Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University
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The extent of the contribution of Innovative Moments and therapist interventions
The processes of change in psychotherapy with a time-limited psychodynamic approach
Ron Nissim, supervised by Prof. Tuvia Perry, Director of the Community Service Clinic of the Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University
Collaborative research projects
Research projects in collaboration with Prof. Tuvia Perry, Director of the Community Benefit Clinic in the Department of Psychology at Bar Ilan University
The research unit's database
The study is conducted on an existing database established as part of the doctoral research "Therapist Self-Disclosure: Effects on Treatment Outcomes and Therapist Perception" (Sharon Ziv-Beiman, 2010). The existing database includes 86 recorded treatments of 12 sessions (a total of 1032 recorded sessions) conducted by 21 different therapists and on data obtained from the use of a variety of tools that were transferred to patients and therapists before, during, and at the end of treatment.
The therapists who participated in the study were randomly assigned to one of four study groups:
(a) A group that went through the workshop, and was asked to increase the use of self-disclosure, mainly immediate (disclosure of the therapist's feelings towards the patient, the treatment, or the therapeutic relationship); (b) A group that went through the workshop, and was asked to increase the use of self-disclosure, mainly non-immediate (disclosure of personal and factual information, concerning the therapist's life outside of treatment); (c) A group that went through a short training workshop, and was asked to avoid the use of self-disclosure; (d) A group that did not go through the workshop, and was asked to avoid the use of self-disclosure.
The training provided to therapists in the first three groups was an eight-hour workshop, based on principles common to brief therapy (Marmar, 1990; Reich & Neenan, 1986) as well as Hill's (2009) integrative three-stage model. During the workshop, therapists were asked to apply the basic principles of brief therapy, work on inquiry, insight, and action, and utilize the therapeutic skills detailed in Hill's model.
Before the start of treatment, each patient completed the following questionnaires: Patient Background Questionnaire, Trait Empathy Questionnaire (IRI), Brief Cope Questionnaire, Attachment Questionnaire (ECR), and Symptomatology Questionnaire (BSI). In addition, at the beginning of each treatment session, each patient and therapist completed the Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45) to assess therapeutic improvement since the previous session. At the end of each session, patients and therapists completed the Session Evaluation Questionnaire (SEQ: Session Evaluation Questionnaire, Form 4) and the Helpfulness Questionnaire – the extent to which the current session was perceived as helpful. At the end of treatment, patients and therapists completed the Helpfulness Index regarding the entire treatment and the Treatment Summary Questionnaire to evaluate the therapist and the treatment (the therapist's professionalism and pleasantness, the degree of current distress, and the assessment of distress level before treatment). In addition, the patients filled out the symptomatology questionnaire (BSI) again, so that the degree of symptomatic change following treatment could be examined.