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Psychotherapy with Depressed Outpatients: Patient and Process Variables as Predictors of Outcome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Bruce J. Rounsaville ,
Myrna M. Weissman  and
Brigitte A. Prusoff
Bruce J. Rounsaville
Affiliation:
Yale University Department of Psychiatry and Substance Abuse Treatment Unit, Connecticut Mental Health Center, 100 Park Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06511
Myrna M. Weissman
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Epidemiology, Yale University, School of Medicine; Depression Research Unit, Connecticut Mental Health Center
Brigitte A. Prusoff
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, Depression Research Unit
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Summary

This paper evaluates the predictive power of two classes of variables which are thought to be related to psychotherapy outcome: patient characteristics assessed at the start of treatment and process characteristics of the psychotherapy. The treatment was Short Term Interpersonal Psychoatherapy which was performed with ambulatory patients during a major depressive episode as defined by Research Diagnostic Criteria. Univariate correlations indicate that patients with generally healthier functioning on the Prognostic Index received better ratings on measures of psychotherapy process and experienced greater improvement in depressive symptoms and social functioning. However, in a multiple regression analysis, patient characteristics accounted for 64 per cent of the variance in treatment outcome, while psychotherapy process variables were not predictive of outcome.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 138 , Issue 1 , January 1981 , pp. 67 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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