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The Therapeutic System as Viewed by Depressive Inpatients and Outcome: An Expanded Study
Author(s) -
PRIEBE STEFAN,
POMMERIEN WILFRIED
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
family process
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.011
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1545-5300
pISSN - 0014-7370
DOI - 10.1111/j.1545-5300.1992.00433.x
Subject(s) - psychology , psychiatry , mental illness , outcome (game theory) , depression (economics) , clinical psychology , depressive symptoms , medicine , psychotherapist , mental health , cognition , mathematics , mathematical economics , economics , macroeconomics
In an expansion of a previous study, we examined in which way depressive inpatients' views of psychiatrists' and significant others' attitudes toward the severity of their illness were related to outcome. Fifty‐six patients were asked a two‐part question —“Who regards your illness as being more severe: (a) you or your significant others; (b) you or your psychiatrist?” Two subsamples of patients were identified: those who viewed the psychiatrists' and significant others' attitudes as similar and those who viewed them as dissimilar. Both groups showed substantial and significant improvement during hospital treatment; but the group that viewed the attitudes held by psychiatrists and significant others as dissimilar had significantly fewer depressive symptoms by the end of a 3‐month followup period. The findings were consistent with those of the original study, and with the hypothesis as derived from the Mental Research Institute brief therapy principles.