ABSTRACT
One of the first empirical quantitative analyses of power in marriage and family therapy investigated interruptions, which were viewed as a sign of conversational power. That study reported that women clients
5 were interrupted three times more often than men clients regardless of therapist gender (W emer-Wilson et al., 1997). The study published in 1997 included only student therapists so the findings could have been the result of limited professional training because therapist
1 0 inexperience seems to be associated with a more directive interviewing style (Auerbach & Johnson, 1978). The present study represents a replication of the 1997 study with a sample of therapists that includes some who have significantly more experience so interrup-
15 tions could be compared between student therapists and those identified by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy as "master" therapists. This present study was influenced by two themes: language and therapeutic discourse as well as the feminist cri-
20 tique of marriage and family therapy.
