ABSTRACT
There is a good amount of research to show that significant change can occur in personality traits in a relatively short period of time, with change occurring in as little as between two and ten weeks. Specifically the research has identified clear changes in the traits of emotional stability, extraversion (including increases in positive affect), conscientiousness, openness to experience in response to short-term interventions and completion of daily between-session homework tasks. It is poor practice and unethical to engage a client in long-term, open-ended psychotherapy without explicitly contracting with the client that the therapy will be conducted in that format. While it is impossible to entirely predict exactly how long therapy will take, it is possible to give the client a rough estimate based on the type, duration and severity of their problems. Clients with personality disorders also tend to require longer in therapy.
