Objectives: This study investigates the stability of symptomatic and interpersonal changes after inpatient psychodynamic psychotherapy.
Methods: 437 patients were assessed 3 to 5 years after discharge with the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R), the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP), global assessment of effectiveness and utilization of posttreatment psychotherapy. The therapist's perspective was evaluated by the Impairment Severity Score (BSS), the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF), and the Clinical Global Impressions (CGI).
Results: Patients improved in all SCL-90-R scales significantly. The Global Severity Index (GSI) effect size was 0.81 posttreatment and 0.82 at follow-up. All IIP scales improved significantly; effect size of IIP total score was 0.40 at posttreatment and 0.60 at follow-up. There were substantial gains in BSS,GAF, and CGI. 84% of the patients were in psychotherapy after dismissal.
Discussion: Posttreatment results were in accordance with comparable studies. The results are stable on a symptomatic level and improve further on an interpersonal level.