LONG-TERM COMPARISON OF BRIEF VERSUS UNLIMITED PSYCHODYNAMIC TREATMENTS WITH CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS

Thirty children and their parents were assigned randomly to either tim e-unlimited or time-limited (12 sessions) psychodynamically oriented t reatments or to a minimal-contact control group. All groups showed sig nificant improvements from pretest to posttest. Comparisons between gr oups at posttest on parental measures of family functioning showed tha t changes reported by the minimal-contact control group were significa ntly greater than those of the time-unlimited group. When assessments from pretest to 4-year follow-up were compared, all groups improved si gnificantly on therapist measures of goal attainment, but only the min imal-contact control group reported significant improvements on severi ty of target problems and measures of family functioning. The results of this study suggest that long-term therapy does not necessarily prov ide more effective therapy. These findings have important implications for clinical practice, service delivery, and research, particularly i n the present climate of financial restraint in health care.