Relevance of therapy goals in outpatient cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic psychotherapy

Abstract

Objective: Against a background of sparse research and contradictory findings, the present study investigates determinants of psychotherapy goals and predictive value for therapy success in outpatient psychotherapy. Method: The sample consisted of 473 patients from a university-based polyclinic and their corresponding 103 therapists. Goals were coded with the Bern Inventory of Treatment Goals (BIT-T). Results: The results show that goal congruence between therapists and patients is relatively small. Theoretical orientation had a significant influence on the complexity of goal structure and goal preferences. With regard to the prognostic validity, only patients' problem- and symptom-focused goals enabled the prediction of treatment success independent of basic therapeutic variables. Conclusions: These findings underline the importance of consideration of patients' individual treatment goals in clinical practice and underpin the relevance of therapy goals for future psychotherapy research.