Shari B. Kaplan, LCSWIntegrative Mental Health

What Makes Therapy Work Best? #mentalhealthawareness

30 Apr 2026 · 1 min

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0:38

In this segment of her mental‑health awareness video, therapist Shari B. Kaplan asks viewers what the single biggest predictor of successful therapy is. She explains that research consistently shows two foundational factors: (1) the clinician must be grounded, centered, and genuine, and (2) the patient must feel genuinely cared for by that clinician. These relational qualities form the essential base for any therapeutic work; without them, subsequent techniques aimed at repair and integration are unlikely to be effective.

Chapters

I wanna start off by asking, does anyone know the number one predictor as to why people succeed in therapy? If the clinician is grounded, centered, and genuine themselves. The second one is that the patient feels genuinely cared for by that clinician. There were studies done many years ago that the success rate of therapy is based on those two fundamental concepts. So anything I do above that is going to be all about repair and integration, but without starting there, we have a problem.