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The outcome of short- and long-term psychotherapy 10 years after start of treatment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 January 2016

P. Knekt ,
E. Virtala ,
T. Härkänen ,
M. Vaarama ,
J. Lehtonen  and
O. Lindfors
P. Knekt*
Affiliation:
National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland Biomedicum Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
E. Virtala
Affiliation:
National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland
T. Härkänen
Affiliation:
National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland
M. Vaarama
Affiliation:
National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland
J. Lehtonen
Affiliation:
National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland
O. Lindfors
Affiliation:
National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland
*
*Address for correspondence: P. Knekt, National Institute for Health and Welfare, PO Box 30, 00271 Helsinki, Finland. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Background

Empirical evidence on whether patients’ mental health and functioning will be more improved after long-term than short-term therapy is scarce. We addressed this question in a clinical trial with a long follow-up.

Method

In the Helsinki Psychotherapy Study, 326 out-patients with mood or anxiety disorder were randomly assigned to long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (LPP), short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (SPP) or solution-focused therapy (SFT) and were followed for 10 years. The outcome measures were psychiatric symptoms, work ability, personality and social functioning, need for treatment, and remission.

Results

At the end of the follow-up, altogether 74% of the patients were free from clinically elevated psychiatric symptoms. Compared with SPP, LPP showed greater reductions in symptoms, greater improvement in work ability and higher remission rates. A similar difference in symptoms and work ability was observed in comparison with SFT after adjustment for violations of treatment standards. No notable differences in effectiveness between SFT and SPP were observed. The prevalence of auxiliary treatment was relatively high, 47% in SFT, 58% in SPP and 33% in LPP, and, accordingly, the remission rates for general symptoms were 55, 45 and 62%, respectively.

Conclusions

After 10 years of follow-up, the benefits of LPP in comparison with the short-term therapies are rather small, though significant in symptoms and work ability, possibly due to more frequent use of auxiliary therapy in the short-term therapy groups. Further studies should focus on the choice of optimal length of therapy and the selection of factors predicting outcome of short- v. long-term therapy.

Keywords

Affective disordereffectivenesspsychodynamic psychotherapypsychotherapysolution-focused psychotherapy
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 46 , Issue 6 , April 2016 , pp. 1175 - 1188
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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