Am J Psychiatry 1989; 146:775-778
Copyright © 1989 by American Psychiatric Association
Patterns of psychotherapy utilization
KI Howard, CV Davidson, MT O'Mahoney, DE Orlinsky and KP Brown
Institute of Psychiatry, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Evanston, Ill.
Epidemiologic research indicates that a small minority of patients make the
great majority of outpatient mental health visits. This small group of
long-term patients constitutes the bulk of psychotherapeutic practice and
creates a disproportionate impression on mental health professionals. The
authors confirmed this finding by studying 405 patients in a clinical
setting with an orientation toward long-term psychotherapy: 68% of the
patients attended 26 or fewer psychotherapy sessions, representing 23.3% of
the total number of sessions used by all patients; 32% attended more than
26 sessions, representing 77% of the total number of sessions used by all
patients.
