Therapists' professional and personal characteristics as predictors of outcome in short- and long-term psychotherapy (original) (raw)

BACKGROUND: Short- and long-term psychotherapies have been found effective for treating mood and anxiety disorders. Although psychotherapists differ in their effectiveness, virtually no comparative research exists on the therapist characteristics beneficial to short- or long-term therapy. METHODS: Altogether 326 outpatients, aged 20-46years, and suffering from mood or anxiety disorder, were randomly assigned to either short-term (solution-focused or psychodynamic therapy, combined) or long-term (psychodynamic) psychotherapy, and were followed up for 3years. Therapies were provided by 55 volunteering therapists with at least 2years of work experience in the given form of therapy. Therapists' professional and personal characteristics, measured before randomization, were assessed with the Development of Psychotherapists Common Core Questionnaire (DPCCQ). Patients' general psychiatric symptoms were assessed as the main outcome measure at baseline and 3, 7, 9, 12, 18, 24 and 36...