HM 15-1 Attitude Toward Psychotherapy Fischer and Turner (1970) developed the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help (ATSPPH) Scale to assess one’s attitudes toward professional psychotherapy. Data in the text shows that most people who need therapy do not get treatment. There are a multitude of reasons for this finding, presumably some of which revolve around stereotypes people hold about therapy, such as the notion that people who are in therapy have personal weaknesses.

HM 15-1 Negative attitudes about therapy that stop people from seeking help are unfortunate, because potential clients may miss treatment that would be of great benefit to them. You can use Fischer and Turner’s scale (HM 15-1) to assess students’ attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Weiten notes that men are less likely to enter therapy than women. Thus, your class should demonstrate a gender difference on this scale. If not, what other reason(s) might explain the gender difference in seeking therapy?

HM 15-1 Scoring of the scale is relatively simple. Responses on items 1, 3, 4, 6, 8-10, 13-15, 17, 19-22, 24, 26, and 29 must be reversed (0=3, 1=2, 2=1, 3=0). Add up the responses for all items to find the overall score. The higher the score, the more positive the attitude toward therapy.

HM 15-1 Norms Men Women High Score 68+ 75+ Medium Score 44-67 52-74 Low Score below 44 below 52