FIVE-MINUTE PSYCHOTHERAPY
GEORGE A. ZIRKLE PH.D.1
1 Professor of Psychology, Hanover College, and Psychological Consultant, Madison State Hospital, Ind.
Under the conditions of this experiment, the data point to an advantage of 5-minute therapy sessions over 25-minute ones. With other types of patients and with other types of therapy the results would probably have been different. For the reported situation, however, empirical support was provided for the clinical observation that frequent short-term contacts with ward patients have real therapeutic value. Though the experimental trend is pointed, a definitive answer on the relative merits of frequent short term versus infrequent longer term psychotherapy periods must await much fuller evidence.
