Psychotherapy Outcome Studies

Question 1

Eysenck found that __% of untreated neurotic individuals improved without therapy, while __% of patients receiving eclectic psychotherapy and __% receiving psychoanalytic therapy showed a substantial decrease in symptoms

Answer 1

72%, 66%, 44%

Question 2

Eysenck concluded that any apparent benefit of therapy is due to _______.

Answer 2

spontaneous remission

Question 3

Howard et al (1996) identified a dose-dependent effect of psychotherapy - about ___% of patients show measurable improvement at ___ sessions - this number decreases to __% at __ sessions.

Answer 3

75%, 26 - 85%, 52

Question 4

Howard et al (1996) - three phases of psychotherapy

Answer 4

remoralization (reduction in feelings of hopelessness)

remediation (symptom reduction)

rehabilitation (lasting behavioral change)

Question 5

Efficacy vs. effectiveness research

Answer 5

An ongoing debate on psychotherapy outcome research is over the best way to evaluate the effects of psychotherapy. On one side of the argument are experts who support efficacy studies (clinical trials); on the other are those who prefer effectiveness studies, which are correlational or quasi-experimental in nature.

Question 6

What is diagnostic overshadowing?

Answer 6

Diagnostic overshadowing was originally used to describe the tendency of health professionals to attribute all of a person’s psychiatric symptoms to his or her intellectual disabilities. Subsequent research found that diagnostic overshadowing applies to other conditions and diagnoses.

Question 7

The goal of an ___ intervention is to make changes in the environment so it better accommodates the individual, while the goal of an ____ intervention is to change the individual so that he/she is better able to function effectively in his/her environment.

Answer 7

alloplastic; autoplastic

Question 8

Demographic characteristics of psychiatric inpatients: marital status

Answer 8

lowest among widowed, intermediate for married/divorced/separated, highest for never married

Question 9

Demographic characteristics of psychiatric inpatients: race/ethnicity

Answer 9

Whites are largest numbers, but BIPOC over-represented

Question 10

Demographic characteristics of psychiatric inpatients: age

Answer 10

largest proportion of admissions between 25 - 44

Question 11

Demographic characteristics of psychiatric inpatients: diagnosis

Answer 11

schizophrenia is most common for 18 – 44 age range, organic disorder and affective disorder most common for patients 65+

Question 12

What is a limitation of treatment manuals?

Answer 12

oversimplifies the therapeutic process

Question 13

(Smith et al) found an average effect size of ____, suggesting that the typical therapy client is better off than ___% of individuals who need therapy but are untreated

Answer 13

.85; 80%