Influence of Therapy On Client Outcomes:

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Abstract
The influence of group versus individual and family versus individual psychotherapy on client outcomes was examined. The outcomes used were personal and community functioning, dropping out of treatment, and recidivism. A data base of 6,934 clients treated by four community mental health center teams was used, but the num ber of subjects for each analysis was greatly reduced by restrictions imposed by operational definitions and by missing data. Overall there were little or no differences in outcome among the therapy modalities. One difference that emerged was that a sig nificantly lower percentage of group therapy clients dropped out of treatment than did individual therapy clients. Projections about future changes in the assignment of clients to therapy modalities indicated that increasing the use of group therapy would decrease dropping out while actually decreasing the total number of sessions needed to treat clients. Significant interaction effects suggest that group or family therapy may lead to better personal and community functioning for self-referred clients, whereas individual therapy may be more appropriate for clients referred by someone else.