Psychotherapy discontinuation

Psychotherapy discontinuation, also known as unilateral termination, patient dropout, and premature termination, is a patient's decision to stop mental health treatment before they have received an adequate number of sessions. In the United States, the prevalence of patient dropout is estimated to be between 40–60% over the course of treatment[1] however, the overwhelming majority of patients will drop after two sessions.[2] An exhaustive meta-analysis of 146 studies in Western countries showed that the mean dropout rate is 34.8% with a wide range of 10.3% to 81.0%. The studies from the US (n = 85) had a dropout rate of 37.9% (range: 33.0% to 43.0%).[3]

  1. ^ Owen, J.; Imel, Z.; Adelson, J.; Rodolfa, E. (2012). "'No-Show': Therapist racial/ethnic disparities in client unilateral termination". Journal of Counseling Psychology. 59 (2): 314–320. doi:10.1037/a0027091. PMID 22352948.
  2. ^ Swift, J.K.; Greenberg, R.P. (2012a). "Premature discontinuation in adult psychotherapy: A meta-analysis". Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 80 (4): 547–559. doi:10.1037/a0028226. PMID 22506792.
  3. ^ Egloff, U. (2012) (2012). "Ambulante Psychotherapieabbrüche: Eine explorative Meta-Analyse". Dissertation. University of Berne, Switzerland. Retrieved 2014-05-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)