Ehm. Eurelingsbontekoe et al., SYMPTOMATOLOGY, SOCIAL SUPPORT AND SOCIAL SUPPORT SEEKING - LONG-TERMRESULTS OF A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY AMONG PRIMARY MENTAL-HEALTH-CARE PATIENTS, Patient education and counseling, 28(3), 1996, pp. 277-285
The long-term association between social support and symptomatology is
studied. Social support variables were: experienced understanding, sa
tisfaction, number of contacts, social support seeking and severity of
interpersonal conflicts. Data were collected at the start of a short-
term behavioural therapy (T1) and 6 (T2) and 18 months later (T3). In
addition, a comparison is made between patients who had finished their
therapy by the second measurement and those who were by that time sti
ll in therapy. A fine-grained analysis demonstrated that of all social
support variables interpersonal problems were most strongly related t
o symptomatology, in particular to interpersonal sensitivity. The tend
ency to seek social support becomes associated with well-being in the
long term. The best predictors of symptomatology at T3 were the initia
l severity of symptomatology, the change in severity of symptomatology
between T1 and T2 and the severity of symptomatology at T2. The socia
l support variables did not have any prognostic significance. All soci
al support variables retained their high temporal stability. Results a
re translated into practical suggestions that might help maximize gain
s of short-term behavioural therapy within primary mental health care.