Do mental health patients learn what their cognitive-behaviour therapists think they do? A short report on qualitative interviews comparing perspectives.

PURPOSE

The acquisition of skills is essential to the conceptualization of cognitive-behavioural therapy. Yet, what experiences are encountered and what skills actually learned during therapy, and whether patients and therapists have concurrent views hereof, remains poorly understood.

METHOD

An explorative pilot study with semi-structured, corresponding interview guides was conducted. Pilot data from our outpatient unit were transcribed and content-analyzed following current guidelines.

RESULTS

The responses of 18 participants (patients and their psychotherapists) were assigned to six main categories. Educational and cognitive aspects were mentioned most frequently and consistently by both groups. Having learned Behavioural alternatives attained the second highest agreement between perspectives.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients and therapists valued CBT as an opportunity to learn new skills, which is an important prerequisite also for the maintenance of therapeutic change. We discuss limitations to generalizability but also theoretical and therapy implications.