This work presents a proposal to combine the criterion of adaptive efficacy with the Hierarchical List of Generic Change Indicators (HLGCI) to better understand how people change in psychotherapy. A brief review of the factors of change that underpin generic theory of change that underlies the LHIGM is initially presented. The List presents an ideal of what happens if psychotherapy is successful and allows observe empirically the presence of indicators throughout the sessions. Adaptive efficacy comprises the responses of the individual in the face of difficulties and vicissitudes of life. It is proposed that there is an association between the quality of the adaptive efficacy and the possibility of patient progress to higher levels of the hierarchy of generic indicators, as well as the advancement of the indicators in the hierarchy corresponds to changes in the adaptive efficacy. Researches are suggested to better evaluate these hypotheses.
psychotherapy; psychotherapeutic processes; change (psychology); psychological intervention