title: Course of self-reported symptoms of 342 outpatients receiving medium- versus long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The course of self-reported symptoms during medium- versus long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy has rarely been documented for outpatient settings. This observational study describes routine practice of ambulatory treatment in Germany and explores self-reported symptoms of a broad patient sample undergoing one (medium-term) versus two years (long-term) of psychodynamic psychotherapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Over four and a half years, longitudinal self-report symptom data were collected from 342 outpatients as part of a standardized documentation system. Self-report data were compared between patients receiving either medium-term or long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Routine care significantly decreased disease burden as reported by patients by small to medium effect sizes (ES) for depression (ES = 0.58), anxiety (ES = 0.49), obsessive-compulsive disorder (ES = 0.54), somatoform disorder (ES = 0.32), eating disorder (ES = 0.38). The majority of patients completed treatment after one year and showed medium-size changes. For a subgroup of patients with depressive and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms for whom two years of therapy were deemed necessary, additional benefits were reported during the second year of treatment (ES = 0.61 and ES  0.47, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that both medium- and long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy decrease self-reported disease burden of patients with depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, somatoform and/or eating disorders. For a subgroup of patients, additional benefits were gained in the second year of treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Center for Internal Medicine and Dermatology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany ; Population Health Strategic Research Centre, School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Melbourne, VIC Australia.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nolte
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Center for Internal Medicine and Dermatology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Erdur
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Center for Internal Medicine and Dermatology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany ; Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: H F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Center for Internal Medicine and Dermatology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany ; Quantitative Health Sciences, Outcomes Measurement Science, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.affiliation: Private Practice Dr Bernhard Palmowski, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Palmowski
keywords: Longitudinal data; Observational study; Outcomes assessment; Psychodynamic psychotherapy; Psychosomatic medicine; Self-report data; Symptom rating