QUANTITATIVE-EVALUATION OF 26 YEARS OF PRIVATE-PRACTICE

Of 683 cases seen by a clinical psychologist, 67 came for assessment o nly, 132 dropped out during intake, and 40 were still in treatment at the time of data analysis. The subjects fell into 86 DSM-III-R diagnos tic categories and ranged in age from 6 months to 79 years at intake. Of the 444 treated clients, 75% were improved at termination. Success rate varied greatly across diagnostic categories. There was a signific ant negative correlation between age of client and outcome (r = -.72). Median number of treatment sessions per case was 12, mean was 22, and range was 1-344. The correlation between number of sessions and perce ntage of cases improved was positive and significant (r = .64). There was no relationship between phase of the psychologist's career (e.g., early, middle, or most recent years) and treatment outcome.