The Seba library treats Goal Consensus in 9 passages, across 5 authors (including Wampold, Bruce E., Norcross, John C., Miller, William R.).
the effect for goal consensus and collaboration is strong (d=0.72), based on a meta-analysis of 15 studies
Wampold’s contextual model identifies goal consensus and collaboration as a robustly effective relational variable with a large effect size, empirically distinct from but related to the therapeutic bond.
, How important are the common factors in psychotherapy? An update, 2015thesis
goal consensus, collaboration, positive regard… were probably effective
The APA interdivisional task force classifies goal consensus as a ‘probably effective’ relationship element, placing it in the second tier of evidence-based relational factors.
, Evidence-Based Therapy Relationships: Research Conclusions and Clinical Practices, 2011thesis
Tryon GS, Winograd G. Goal consensus and collaboration. In: Norcross JC (ed). Psychotherapy relationships that work: evidence-based responsiveness, 2nd ed.
This bibliographic reference anchors goal consensus within the canonical evidence-based relationships literature, identifying Tryon and Winograd as the primary meta-analytic source for the construct.
, How important are the common factors in psychotherapy? An update, 2015supporting
One dimension along which therapies have traditionally differed is the degree to which the counselor engages as an expert in overt directing.
Miller frames the problem of goal consensus as a tension between therapist-directed goal-setting and collaborative negotiation, positioning MI at the collaborative pole of this spectrum.
, Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change, Third Edition, 2013thesis
Ideally, there is a shared sense of direction, just as a guide and traveler have an agreement about where they are going.
Miller articulates goal consensus as the ongoing collaborative achievement of shared direction, constituting the ‘focusing’ process at the heart of motivational interviewing.
, Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change, Third Edition, 2013supporting
reestablish collaboration, improve the relationship, modify technical strategies, and avoid premature termination
Norcross recommends that practitioners routinely monitor relational processes — including collaborative goal alignment — as a strategy for preventing deterioration in therapeutic outcomes.
, Evidence-Based Therapy Relationships: Research Conclusions and Clinical Practices, 2011supporting
a good place to start, I think, is to get clearer about our goals in working together. If our work together were really successful from your perspective, what would be different?
Miller illustrates clinical goal consensus through a direct elicitation technique, foregrounding the client’s own vision of success as the starting point for shared therapeutic direction.
, Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change, Third Edition, 2013supporting
Consensus in the group is usually high, and this often leads to compliance… Treatment recommendations are to be delivered at the end of group and individual sessions scheduled to discuss consequences of failures to follow through with agreed-upon treatment goals.
Flores applies a group-level analogue of goal consensus in addictions treatment, where shared assessment and agreement on treatment aims increases patient compliance with recommendations.
, Group Psychotherapy with Addicted Populations An, 1997supporting
when a consensus gentium allies itself thereto the validity of the statement is proved to just that extent
Jung employs ‘consensus gentium’ in an epistemological register — universal human agreement as a criterion of psychological validity — a usage etymologically cognate with but conceptually distant from therapeutic goal consensus.
, Psychology and Alchemy, 1944aside