A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED OUTCOME AND FOLLOW-UP-STUDY OF MANN TIME-LIMITED PSYCHOTHERAPY

Thirty-three patients were assessed for suitability for time-limited p sychotherapy (TLP). A battery of outcome measures was composed of pati ent self-report measurements and objective judgments by external (''ma sked'') raters. Patients were randomly assigned to either the experime ntal group, which received TLP immediately, or the control group, whos e TLP was delayed for 3 months. Patients were evaluated on outcome mea sures at TLP termination and again at 6 and 12 months after terminatio n. Significant improvement was observed in the experimental group afte r TLP, but the control patients did not show any systematic changes af ter waiting. However, after TLP, the control patients improved signifi cantly. The average effect size measured by the differences between ga in scores of the experimental patients (before vs. after treatment) an d those of the control patients (before vs. after waiting) was 0.986 S D. The gains achieved after therapy were stable in both groups after 6 - and 12-month follow-ups.