title: Can countertransference at the early stage of trauma care predict patient dropout of psychiatric treatment?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the association between feelings of countertransference (CT) at the early psychiatric care provided to trauma victims and treatment outcome.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Assessment of Countertransference Scale was used to access CT after the first medical appointment. Fifty psychiatric residents cared for 131 trauma victims of whom 83% were women, aged 15 to 64 years. Patients had been consecutively selected over 4 years. Were evaluated the clinical and demographic characteristics of patients and the correlation with the therapists' CT feelings. Patients were followed-up during treatment to verify the association between initial CT and treatment outcome, defined as discharge and dropout.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median number of appointments was 5 [4; 8], absences 1 [0; 1], and the dropout rate was 34.4%. Both groups, namely the discharge group and the dropout group, shared similar clinical and demographic characteristics. A multivariate analysis identified that patients with a reported history of childhood trauma were 61% less likely to dropout from treatment than patients with no reported history of childhood trauma (OR = 0.39, p = 0.039, CI95% 0.16-0.95). There was no association between initial CT and treatment outcome.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this sample, CT in the initial care of trauma victims was not associated with treatment outcome. Further studies should assess changes in CT during treatment, and how such changes impact treatment outcome.
authors.affiliation: Center for Study and Treatment of Traumatic Stress, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Brazil. erico.moura@gmail.com
authors.forename: Erico de Moura
authors.initials: Ede M
authors.lastname: Silveira Júnior
authors.forename: Guilherme Vanoni
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Polanczyk
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hauck
authors.forename: Cláudio Laks
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Eizirik
authors.forename: Lúcia Helena Freitas
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Ceitlin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003379:Countertransference; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D016312:Treatment Refusal / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult