title: Behaviour therapy in psychiatric outpatients.
abstract: In a prospective study of fifty consecutive outpatients (30 men and 20 women) attending the Behaviour Therapy Clinic at a general hospital, the commonest conditions were obsessive compulsive disorders (n = 16), phobic disorders (n = 11) and generalised anxiety disorders (n = 9). Three-quarters of the referrals were from psychiatrists and family physicians. The patients received between 2 to 10 sessions of behaviour treatment; most had 4 to 6 sessions with a mean of 4.7, SD 1.82. The commonest behavioural techniques administered were exposure therapy with response prevention and relaxation therapy. Initially, treatment was therapist-aided, but subsequently self-help was encouraged with regular reviews of the patient's homework. After one month, 42 patients (84%) were assessed to have improved somewhat, with 20 (40%) showing moderate improvement. After three months, 41 (82%) continued to improve, with 33 (66%) showing moderate to great improvement. Nine patients were considered to have failed in therapy-six defaulted and three were non-responders. The reasons for defaulting treatment were unwillingness to bear with the discomfort involved in exposure therapy, lack of motivation or returning to own hometown in Malaysia. Sixteen patients (n = 32%) were treated solely with behavioural techniques while the rest had a combination of behaviour therapy and drugs, especially anxiolytics and antidepressants. However, at the end of treatment, the dosages of most medications were reduced or else discontinued completely.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, National University Hospital, Singapore.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Leong
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012846:Singapore; D016896:Treatment Outcome