title: Premature termination of psychological treatment for anxiety disorders in a clinical setting.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Empirically supported psychological treatments (ESTs) have demonstrated their effectiveness and clinical utility for the treatment of anxiety disorders (AD) but few studies have assessed the factors associated with premature termination in ESTs for AD.
  
  
  METHODS
  The goals of this study, which involved 291 patients with a diagnosis of anxiety who had received outpatient psychological care, consisted of examining premature termination of treatment (PTT), comparing the individual characteristics of the patients who successfully completed treatment with those who terminate it prematurely, and analyzing the predictors of PTT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the sample, 8.2% refused to start treatment, 28.5% dropped out before completing it, and 63.2% successfully completed treatment. In 50% of the cases, PTT occurred during the first 7 sessions, and in 80%, before the 15th session. Alternatively, 76.4% of the patients who complete treatment successfully do so before session 20. We found that patients with PTT attended a significantly lower number of treatment sessions and attended the sessions more irregularly and unpunctually. Presenting a generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), problems with punctuality and with task performance were predictors of failure to complete treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest the need to reinforce early adherence to treatments to help patients remain in treatment.
authors.affiliation: Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fernández-Arias
authors.forename: Gloria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: García-Fernández
authors.forename: Mónica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bernaldo-de-Quirós
authors.forename: Francisco J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Estupiñá Puig
authors.forename: Francisco J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Labrador Encinas
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Labrador-Méndez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016312:Treatment Refusal