The effect of an ODD label on therapists’ autonomy-supportive responses to adolescents showing treatment resistance.

Abstract

This thesis aimed to study the effect of the DSM label opposition defiant disorder (ODD) on therapists’ autonomy-supportive responses to adolescents who show resistance within treatment. The autonomy-supportive responses were measured through video-vignettes consisting of a session between a therapist and a client (adolescent actor) who shows resistance. The actor was given a DSM label, which was communicated to the therapist via an instruction text prior to the vignette. Therapists were asked to verbally respond to the scenario in a natural way and these responses were coded for autonomy-support. It was expected that therapists would react with lower autonomy-supportive responses to adolescents with ODD than to adolescents with a social anxiety disorder (SAD) showing treatment resistance. The results however showed that therapists do not give a lower autonomy-supportive response to adolescents with ODD than to adolescents with SAD. Although more research about the causes of differences in therapists’ autonomy-supportive responses is important, these findings suggest that solely a DSM label may not influence therapists’ autonomy-supportive responses to treatment resistance.