[Course of symptom severity and prediction of outcome in inpatient psychotherapy].

OBJECTIVES

The study looks for typical curves of symptom development in inpatients and investigates the influence of initial remoralisation and terminal improvement on the global therapy outcome.

METHODS

71 psychotherapy inpatients (affective, anxiety, eating and personality disorders; average treatment duration 11.9 weeks) gave weekly self-reports on symptom severity (BSI, Derogatis, 1983) and had a complete outcome evaluation. Regression parameters of the symptom curves were taken for correlational and path analytic calculations.

RESULTS

Initial symptom alleviation is able to predict better global outcome. However there is a relevant subgroup of patients which has a good outcome despite an initial deterioration.

CONCLUSIONS

Initial remoralisation predicts better outcome but is not a necessary condition. The results partly call into question the group statistical "dose-response-curves". Further studies should test the influence of other process parameters (group cohesion, therapeutic alliance etc.) on the course of treatment.