Repertory grid technique as a psychotherapy research measure

Abstract

Repertory grid technique (RGT) has received scant mention in such psychotherapy research texts as the Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change, even though its flexibility renders it, in many respects, an ideal psychotherapy research instrument. However, RGT has been used in numerous investigations of psychotherapy, encompassing a broad range of therapeutic approaches and client groups. The author reviews the findings of grid studies of (a) reconstruction during therapy, (b) client construing as a predictor of therapeutic outcome, and (c) the therapeutic process. Reasons for the relative lack of attention to these studies in the general psychotherapy research literature are considered, and suggestions that may help remedy this situation are made