title: [Drop-out risk factors in mood disorder: a clinical study].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aims of this study are (i) to assess the drop-out rate in an outpatient sample with mood disorder diagnosis in a psychotherapy unit; (ii) to focus clinical and sociodemographic variables related with drop-out; (iii) to delineate a psychopathological profile of the dropping-out patient through the SCL-90-R and OPD scores.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample of this study includes 90 depressive patients, which came to our service for a psychotherapy. The outcome is classified as drop-out and non drop-out. Each patient is submitted to the multidimensional scale SCL-90-R in the course of the first interview. At the end of the first visit each patient has been evaluated through the first and the fourth OPD axis. A descriptive analysis of all the data collected was made and the principal links between clinical and sociodemographic variables and dropout, between SCL-90-R score and drop-out, and between OPD scores and drop-out were detected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  About 42% of the patients were drop-out, of which 89% by the third session. The variables associated with drop-out are: pathological score in the paranoic and interpersonal sensibility scale of SCL-90-R, low compliance scores, low integration of defences, self perception, object's perception and link.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The drop-out rate in depressive patients turned out to be frequent. The patient's resources in terms of relationship, self-perception and object's perception are strongly related to the drop-out risk. These results are suggestive for the idea that the evaluation of drop-out risk in psychiatric patients must considerate the subjective aspects of the patient besides the clinical features.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Psichiatriche e Medicina Psicologica, Prima Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia, Sapienza Università di Roma. marco.armando@uniroma1.it
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Armando
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bensi
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brandizzi
authors.forename: Viviana
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Censi
authors.forename: Juliana Fortes
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Lindau
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fiori Nastro
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D010045:Outpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011613:Psychotherapy; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012384:Rome / Q000453:epidemiology; D012494:Sampling Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016312:Treatment Refusal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*