Planned brief psychotherapy in clinical practice

A workshop was set up at the Tavistock Clinic to study the application in other clinical settings of techniques of brief psychotherapy developed there. Five people from mixed professional backgrounds met for three years and treated patients, unselected for brief therapy, utilizing these techniques. Of the 15 patients who embarked on treatment, 13 completed it, and 12 of these were followed up for periods ranging from three months to two and a half years. Forms were developed by the workshop to chart the clinical progress of therapy, and to evaluate data on the patient, the psychodynamic focus and treatment process. These data were compared with outcome, rated behaviourally and psychodynamically. At non‐significant levels, results indicated that outcome was better for those patients who experienced high levels of distress subjectively but who functioned well externally, those who had a supportive relationship outside therapy and those for whom a psychodynamic focus could be formulated and worked with. Unrelated to outcome were: the extent of early deprivation, severity of damage to object‐relations capacities, time of onset and all of the practical aspects of therapy. Clinical illustrations are given and three exceptions to the trend of results are discussed. In general, the findings corroborate Malan's (1976) work. The claim is made that these results justify further exploration of the technique's applicability in NHS out‐patient psychotherapy clinics.