Some people are more amenable to certain approaches to therapy than others; for example, some people like and benefit from group therapy, while others hate it. Sometimes what a person likes or would prefer needs to be overlooked in favor of treatment that is believed to be effective. But the vast majority of people who enter therapy do this of their own volition. If the therapy they enter is unsatisfying or downright distasteful to them, they will soon give it up. We simply tend not to learn and profit from experiences we dislike or that don't fit the kinds of people we are. For some time now therapists have recognized that a client's personality often tends to incline him or her toward certain approaches and away from others. In the second step in identifying a potentially promising approach to therapy, you are encouraged to take traits of your own personality into consideration. It is not merely the goal or problem that suggests a particular approach to therapy, but--what is often more important--the nature of the person. Too little attention is given to the appropriateness of an individual for a given kind of therapy. {79} _TABLE 2:_ _AN OVERVIEW OF MAIN PERSONALITY TRAITS RELEVANT TO THE CHOICE OF A THERAPY_ Choose no more than three of the following that you believe influence most strongly the way you approach day-to-day living: [ ] §1 Self-discipline [ ] §2 Commitment to tasks you set for yourself [ ] §3 Patience [ ] §4 Initiative [ ] §5 Tolerance to frustration [ ] §6 Rigidity [ ] §7 Inhibition [ ] §8 Introversion or extroversion [ ] §9 Motivation and capacity for physical exercise [ ] §10 Need for acceptance, human warmth, and gentle encouragement [ ] §11 Articulateness and analytical attitude [ ] §12 Reflectiveness--thinking about your own feelings, thoughts, and behavior [ ] §13 Imagination [ ] §14 Sensitivity to values [ ] §15 Comfort in a group setting [ ] §16 Severe impairments--learning, communication, or emotional disabilities, including addictions that seriously disrupt your daily life {80} In the following section, you will find questions relating to the sixteen personal qualities listed in Table 2. For those qualities you check, answer the questions as realistically as you can. If, for the most part, you answer "yes" to a given group of questions, then the approach(es) to therapy identified there may be especially appropriate for the kind of person you are. If you answer "no" to most of the questions in a group, then the listed therapy or therapies may not be especially well suited to you. MATCHING YOUR PERSONALITY WITH THE MOST PROMISING THERAPIES §_1 Self-Discipline_ Therapies rely on self-discipline in clients in several ways: Are you able to _stick_ to a prescribed routine and do practical assignments on your own outside of therapy sessions to practice attitudes, communication skills, or behaviors?