The problem of early outpatient terminations from community mental health centers: a problem for whom?

This study examined the relationship between the number of client contacts with a mental health center and the client's evaluation of the services. Responses to 3 structured ratings of the center's services and free response comments were obtained from 130 former outpatients. None of the structured evaluation ratings was related to the number of contacts, but clients with several contacts were more negative in their free response comments. In addition, clients who had dropped out of therapy evaluated services as highly as clients whose therapy reached a normal termination. These results question the traditional assumptions that early terminations usually occur because of client dissatisfaction and represent treatment failures.