The predicted and observed course of psychotherapy for anxiety and mood disorders

By applying hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) techniques, patient clinical characteristics at the beginning of treatment were used to predict individ ual patient responses (N = 160) to psychotherapy. Four diagnostic groups (m ood, anxiety, other, and no diagnosis) were formed among the patients based on intake-administered Structured Diagnostic Interview for the Diagnosis o f DSM-III-R axis I Disorders. Patients with mood and anxiety disorders had predicted courses of response to psychotherapy that were similar but differ ent from patients with other disorders and no diagnosis. Predicted and obse rved courses of response to psychotherapy in a subsample (N = 75) who had p rovided enough data to model the actual course of treatment showed high lev els of congruence, thus supporting the validity of predicting course of res ponse. HLM predictive profiling offers a new approach for assessing treatme nt effectiveness of psychotherapy with patients having axis I diagnostic co nditions by considering an individual patient's clinical characteristics.