Selecting psychotherapists to participate in psychotherapy outcome studies. Relationship between psychotherapist characteristics and assessment of clinical skills.

The procedures developed for assessing specific psychotherapist skills are described, and the relationships among judges' ratings of these skills and selected therapist characteristics are examined and discussed. Data for 27 therapist applicants indicate a positive relationship between overall ratings of therapist skill and the age and level of experience of the psychotherapist applicants, with older, more experienced therapists being judged as more empathic and having greater potential to function effectively in short term interpersonal psychotherapy. In contrast, psychotherapists' gender and professional degree failed to predict judges' ratings.