Am J Psychiatry 1976; 133:1457-1460
Copyright © 1976 by American Psychiatric Association
Patients' expectations of therapeutic improvement and their outcomes
S Bloch, G Bond, B Qualls, I Yalom and E Zimmerman
The authors studied the relationship between patients' expectations of
therapeutic improvement and their actual outcomes after 8 and 12 months of
group psychotherapy. Using patients' self-evaluations and assessments by
therapists and independent judges, they found a positive relationship
between expectations and outcomes only when assessments were derived from
patients. The authors discuss the possibility of a continuing expectational
set in patients toward psychotherapy.
