PATIENTS VIEW OF THERAPY

Recent research has suggested an increasing rapprochement between behaviour therapy and psychotherapy, especially in terms of the patient's perceptions. Two hypotheses were tested in this study ‐ (1) that patients would report ‘relationship’ or ‘non‐specific’ factors to be more useful in treatment than behavioural or psychotherapeutic activities, and (2) that there would be no difference between patients who had received behaviour therapy and patients who had received psychotherapy with respect to the rated importance of non‐specific, relationship‐type activities. Forty‐nine patients who had received either behaviour therapy or psychotherapy were asked to complete in retrospect a questionnaire relating to aspects of therapy which they found useful and 37 (76 per cent) completed questionnaires were returned. Both hypotheses were accepted, and the findings are now discussed in relation to the growing realization of the importance of ‘non‐specific’ factors in therapy. 1979 The British Psychological Society