The Dose-Effect Relationship in Psychotherapy

In order to specify the relationship between length of treatment and patient benefit, probit analysis was applied to 15 diverse sets of data from our own research and from research previously reported in the literature. These data were based on over 2,400 patients, covering a period of over 30 years...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American psychologist 1986-02, Vol.41 (2), p.159-164
Main Authors: Howard, Kenneth I, Kopta, S. Mark, Krause, Merton S, Orlinsky, David E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anxiety Disorders - therapy
Depressive Disorder - therapy
Female
Human
Humans
Male
Meta Analysis
Psychotherapeutic Outcomes
Psychotherapy
Psychotic Disorders - therapy
Time Factors
Treatment Effectiveness Evaluation
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Summary:In order to specify the relationship between length of treatment and patient benefit, probit analysis was applied to 15 diverse sets of data from our own research and from research previously reported in the literature. These data were based on over 2,400 patients, covering a period of over 30 years of research. The probit model resulted in a good fit to these data, and the results were consistent across the various studies, allowing for a meta-analytic pooling that provided estimates of the expected benefits of specific "doses" of psychotherapy. This analysis indicates that by 8 sessions approximately 50% of patients are measurably improved, and approximately 75% are improved by 26 sessions. Further analyses showed differential responsiveness for different diagnostic groups and for different outcome criteria. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
ISSN:0003-066X
1935-990X
DOI:10.1037/0003-066X.41.2.159