Experiencing some Improvement is Associated with Premature Therapy Dropout

Abstract

Therapeutic dropout is an a priori detrimental phenomenon that frequently occurs in psychotherapy. This work aims to study the factors that may influence therapy dropout. An analysis was carried out on a sample of 298 users of the Applied Psychology Center of the Autonomous University of Madrid. Of these users, 88(29.5%) dropped out of therapy before its completion. The results show that the presence of severe symptoms at the beginning of therapy according to the therapist’s criteria, and the diagnosis of anxiety problems, are associated with a higher dropout rate. In addition, it is observed that people who drop out have experienced significant improvement prior to leaving the treatment and show a high level of adaptation to the environment at the time of dropout. According to the therapist’s evaluation, however, those who complete the therapeutic process show a greater improvement. The implications of the study are discussed.