Follow-up findings for interpretive and supportive forms of psychotherapy and patient personality variables.

Abstract

Follow-up findings at 6 and 12 months are reported for a clinical trial that investigated the efficacy of interpretive and supportive forms of short-term individual psychotherapy and the interaction of each form with the patient's quality of object relations (QOR) and psychological mindedness (PM). Patients in both forms maintained their posttherapy improvements at 6- and 12-month follow-up assessments. They did not differ significantly from each other. At 6 and 12 months, there was evidence for a direct relation between QOR and favorable outcome. At 12 months, there was also evidence for an interaction effect, which indicated a direct relation between QOR and favorable outcome for interpretive therapy and almost no relation for supportive therapy. Thus, QOR continued to be an important predictor of outcome at 6 and 12 months, with some evidence for persistence of an interaction effect. In contrast, no follow-up effects were found for PM.