Preliminary results on the inventory of therapeutic strategies.

The qualities of a new measure of therapists' interventions, the Inventory of Therapeutic Strategies (ITS), were examined in cognitive and brief dynamic psychotherapy. In contrast to other inventories, the ITS focuses on three types of therapist intentions (exploratory, supportive, and work-enhancing), and it also takes into account the content and object of exploratory strategies. In this preliminary study, ITS categories were found 1) to be reliably rated, 2) to be unrelated to the therapist's contribution to the alliance, 3) to differentiate cognitive and dynamic psychotherapy, and 4) to predict outcome, alone or in interaction with the alliance.