Am J Psychiatry 1986; 143:340-344
Copyright © 1986 by American Psychiatric Association
The effect of patients' beliefs about their illnesses on compliance in psychotherapy
EF Foulks, JB Persons and RL Merkel
Sixty patients treated in the outpatient psychiatric clinic of a large
urban teaching hospital were surveyed regarding their beliefs about the
causes of their illness. Patients' beliefs were found to be related to two
measures of compliance: number of visits and manner of termination from
therapy. Subjects endorsing more medical and fewer nonmedical explanations
for their illness made more visits to the clinic and ended treatment in a
more compliant manner than did patients who endorsed more nonmedical
beliefs about the causes of their illness. Results also showed that, except
for age, demographic and diagnostic variables were not related to
compliance.
