Entry and Exit from Treatment: Some Consequences of Pretreatment Experience for Treatment Response

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Abstract
Pretreatment events can be combined with events during treatment to describe a single treatment process having five stages: (a) the symptom experience stage, (b) the stage of sick role assumption, (c) the medical care contact stage, (d) the dependent patient role stage, and (e) the recovery or rehabilitation stage. The influence an early stage of this process can exert on a subsequent one is illustrated by a comparison of treatment outcomes for similar kinds of psychoneurotic patients receiving pharmacotherapy in different settings. Present evidence suggests that favorable response to minor tranquilizers is more likely in family practice than in private psychiatric practice or hospital clinics. Thus, the selection of treatment setting, an important event prior to the dispensing of medical care, is shown to have implications for the outcome of treatment. Further research to qualify this conclusion is proposed.

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