Naturalistic outcomes assessment in psychotherapy

Introduction and objectives.
The naturalistic outcomes assessment in psychotherapy is a requirement for the clinician to evaluate the effectiveness of his work and, in this way, correct possible deficiencies in his performance. The present study evaluated the outcomes of a psychotherapeutic intervention carried out from the solution-focused therapy of a clinical psychologist in his private practice for five years. In addition, the relationship of the outcomes with different sociodemographic, clinical and model variables was evaluated, in search of a profile that would benefit especially from the psychotherapeutic process.
Material and methods.
The sample was comprised of 249 people aged 11 and 78 years. A naturalistic evaluation was carried out implementing a protocol for assesing outcomes in the routine clinical work. The severity of the symptoms and the impairment of the cases were measured by the Global Assessment Functioning Scale (GAF). Sociodemographic, clinical and model variables were also evaluated.
Results.
75.5% of the sample had a successful outcome in therapy. This percentage rose to 85.8% if only people who were considered to have completed psychotherapeutic treatment were taken into account. Age, life stage, symptomatic severity, and having previously been in therapeutic treatment were related, although weakly, to the results.
Conclusions.
These outcomes support the hypothesis of the effectiveness of psychotherapy and its strength in different sociodemographic and clinical profiles.