A 5-year follow-up study of psychotherapy. The stability of changes in self-concept.

This 5-year study examined students who were in individual psychotherapy. The specific interest of the study was in the stability of changes in their self-concept after psychotherapy. Students who were patients at the Dental Health Care Unit were used as a control group. Self-concept was measured by a multidimensional measure which consisted of four dependent variables: symptoms, Beck's Depression Inventory, self-image test and general progress during therapy. Changes in self-concept were presented as change profiles which showed that statistically significant changes had occurred in the experimental group during the 5-year follow-up study. However, the profile of the control group remained unchanged. The results of this follow-up study provide strong evidence for the stability of changes produced by psychotherapy. On the basis of LISREL models the 5-year results were best predicted by the 2-year results. The situation at the outset of psychotherapy predicted only 17% of the results after 5 years.