Change in Patients' Motivation for Psychotherapy
PETER E. SIFNEOS M.D.1
1 Associate Director, Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Hospital, 330 Brookline Ave., Boston, Mass. 02215 and Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.
In dynamic psychotherapy diagnostic and prognostic criteria are necessary in order to determine the kind of therapy best suited to a patient's idiosyncratic needs. Linked with these needs, and thus one important criterion, is a patient's motivation for change rather than for relief of symptoms. In order to assess this motivation, the author used a seven-point scale. Of 42 patients evaluated over eight treatment sessions, only nine patients' motivation for change decreased.
