Factors that influence the prolongation of empirically supported psychological treatments.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find out what factors can explain a longer treatment length. The results of treatments developed with 122 patients at the Clinic of Psychology of the Master of Clinical and Health Psychology were analyzed. The patients were divided into three groups, according to the number of treatment sessions received: Group 1 (20 or less); Group 2 (21-34), and Group 3 (35 or more).  Factors such as age, sex, type of diagnosis, diagnostic in axis III and IV (DSM-IV-TR) or number of therapeutic targets do not identified significant differences. The factors that explained the longer treatment length were: a) the number of applied techniques (9.7 in Group 1; 12.68 in Group 2 and 14.65 in Group 3); b), the presence of co-morbidity (69% of patients with co-morbidity were in the Group 3, versus 7.7% in the Group 1). Results are discussed and some intervention/reflection lines are proposed.