Therapist Effects on Attrition in Psychotherapy Outpatients

Therapist Effects on Attrition in Psychotherapy Outpatients Synopsis

Dirk Zimmermann illustrates that some therapists significantly differ concerning their average dropout rates. He points out that initial impairment is a strong predictor of early termination. Different dropout criteria as well as various explaining variables on patient and on therapist level were assessed. Premature treatment termination is a common phenomenon in psychotherapy with mean dropout rates of about 20%. Therapist effects account for 3%-4% of the variation in dropout.