Contractually Time-Limited Psychotherapy in an Outpatient Psychosomatic Clinic

This report concerns the variables influencing whether a patient showed up for his first psychotherapy appointment, dropped out of therapy, or completed treatment. As single variables, race, sex, age, socioeconomic status, marital status, psychiatric diagnosis, duration of symptoms, and history of parental loss did not relate significantly to completion of therapy. The data thus suggest that, contrary to common belief, patients from the lowest socioeconomic groups can be motivated to complete a program of structured psychotherapy.