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Clients' reasons for terminating psychotherapy: A quantitative and qualitative inquiry
Author(s) -
Roe David,
Dekel Rachel,
Harel Galit,
Fennig Shmuel
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
psychology and psychotherapy: theory, research and practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.102
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 2044-8341
pISSN - 1476-0835
DOI - 10.1348/147608305x90412
Subject(s) - psychology , perspective (graphical) , psychotherapist , private practice , independence (probability theory) , circumstantial evidence , qualitative research , brief psychotherapy , clinical psychology , medicine , family medicine , social science , statistics , mathematics , artificial intelligence , sociology , computer science , political science , law
Objective. To study private‐practice clients' perspective on reasons for psychotherapy termination and how these are related to demographic and treatment variables and to satisfaction with therapy. Design. Eighty‐four persons who had been in extended private‐practice psychotherapy which ended in the preceding three years participated in the study. Mean number of months in treatment was 27.70 ( SD =18.70). Method. Assessment included rating scales and open‐ended questions assessing demographic variables, reasons for terminating therapy, and satisfaction with therapy. Results. Quantitative results revealed that the most frequent reasons for termination were accomplishment of goals, circumstantial constraints and dissatisfaction with therapy, and that client satisfaction was positively related to positive reasons for termination. Qualitative results revealed two additional frequently mentioned reasons for termination: the client's need for independence and the client's involvement in new meaningful relationships. Conclusions. Findings suggest that psychotherapy termination may at times be required to facilitate the pursuit of personally meaningful goals.