Expanding the Evidence Base for the Cost-Effectiveness of Long-Term Psychoanalytic Treatment

Abstract

A study into the effectiveness of psychoanalytic treatment has to make choices about the theoretical framework, instruments and a research design. The current poster aims to explain these choices. The theoretical framework is attachment theory including theoretical extensions regarding mental functioning. The choice of instruments includes theoretically based instruments to assess interpersonal and intrapsychic change as well as a-theoretical instruments assessing symptomatic functioning and therapeutic process. Furthermore, we have chosen a quasi-experimental longitudinal cohort design with repeated (overlapping) measurements. This multicenter project will provide relevant information about the (cost)effectiveness of long-term ambulatory psychoanalytic treatments and can increase the transparency of treatment selection criteria . The systematic monitoring of patients will also be of great importance to the patients themselves, because it will provide a detailed evaluation of their treatment progress. The use of a coherent theoretical framework, appropriate instruments, and a quasi-experimental design in a large naturalistic sample might provide some answers to several questions regarding the effectiveness of psychoanalysis versus psychoanalytic psychotherapy versus no-treatment.