Research findings of this group support the idea that patients want to overcome their problems, that they exert unconscious control over their repressions, and that they make progress in therapy when they unconsciously decide it is safe to do so. The consistent finding of immediate patient progress following a therapy event that increases a patient's sense of safety supports the idea that patients unconsciously and continuously monitor the therapist's behavior and attitudes and are immediately influenced by indications that support or challenge their pathogenic beliefs. Patients unconsciously are in touch with their environment and guided by their appraisals of their reality. We have also accumulated a great deal of evidence to support Weiss's concept that patients work in treatment in accord with unconscious plans as to how to use their therapy to change their pathogenic beliefs and solve their problems. These studies lend support to the idea that patients work in accord with unconscious plans to change their pathogenic beliefs.
Patients respond with progress to interpretations that are compatible with their unconscious plans.
They do not show progress following interpretations that are incompatible with their plans. These findings demonstrate that the unconscious plan concept predicts whether or not an interpretation will prove helpful to a patient. This finding cannot be predicted or explained except by the plan concept. Studies investigating changes in the patient's level of insight in psychotherapy further support the plan concept. In each case it was found that the patient had a relatively high level of insight in the intake interview and the first therapy session, then appeared to lose insight during the middle of the therapy, and regained it towards the end of the therapy.