Therapeutic outcome as rated by patients, therapists, and judges
M. Harty and L. Horwitz
The views of patients, therapists, and research judges were compared as to
the degree of success attained in 22 cases of long-term psychotherapy and
15 cases of psychoanalysis. Across all cases, there was a tendency for
therapists to overrate their success, as compared to the other two sources;
this, together with a tendency of therapists to overlook or misperceive
patients' dissatisfaction with treatment outcome, suggested that the
failure to recognize and deal with the patient's negative feelings was a
factor in a substantial number of unsuccessful treatments. The research
judges rated the psychoanalytic cases as successful with much less
frequency than either patients or treating analysts; the disparity seemed
partly due to differing frames of reference, but may also have relected the
participants' needs to feel that their efforts had been worthwhile.
