Cognitive structure changes with psychotherapy in neurosis.
This study investigated the relationship between improvement in psychotherapy and changes in cognitive complexity (structural organization and differentiation). Before undergoing 30 sessions of psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy, 27 psychoneurotic subjects specified the target (major) complaints, described 15 figures (including themselves) and completed the repertory grid. After psychotherapy, subjects rated their improvement on the target complaints and again described the 15 figures and completed the repertory grid. The results showed that improvement in psychotherapy was associated with increased complexity in the patients' cognitive organization of the psychosocial world, but not with increased cognitive differentiation in interpersonal perception. Implications for the theory of neurosis and evaluation of change in the process of psychotherapy are discussed.
D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy