An examination of therapeutic change, symptomology, and defense style as a guide for effective treatment planning

The purpose of this study is to examine the usefulness of the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ) in treatment planning. This seeks to assist therapists in facilitating a healthier (adaptive) defense style with clients through formulation of appropriate treatment plans. The Maladaptive and Adaptive scales of the DSQ will be examined in relationship to treatment variables: the stages of change and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) indices. The investigator hypothesizes that if clinicians had a clear sense as to how clients cope with difficulties, along with their Stage of Change, and psychological problems, clinicians can form more tailored decisions about their clients. There were five hypotheses but only two were significant. However, there was a significant relationship between the global severity indices of the BSI and maladaptive defense scores and those with high GSI scores have higher BSI scores. Future recommendations include increasing sample size, including personality measure, and conducting a longitudinal study.