‘It will get even better’: preliminary findings from a trauma-focused psychotherapy effectiveness study reveal false positive patients’ long-term outcome expectations after the treatment

Abstract

Background: There is considerable evidence that outcome expectations may predict psychotherapy outcomes. However, little is known about the long-term outcome expectations following the end of the treatment.

Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate patients’ long-term outcome expectations after trauma-focused post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) psychotherapy in a single group effectiveness study.

Methods: Twenty participants with various traumatic experiences who completed the Brief Eclectic Psychotherapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (BEPP) and all the assessments were included into the study. Self-report measures were used to evaluate the therapeutic outcomes: Impact of Event Scale–Revised (IES-R), Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation–Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 6-month follow-up. Subjective Units of Distress Scale was used to measure long-term outcome expectations at post-treatment, asking participants to measure the expected distress in 6 months following the treatment. Assessments at 6-month follow-up were used to estimate the accuracy of patients’ expectations of their distress at previous post-treatment assessment.

Results: Significant decline of PTSD symptoms at post-treatment with large effect sizes was observed. At post-treatment assessment participants expected significant improvement of their condition in 6 months after the treatment. However, therapeutic effects remained stable at the 6-month follow-up.

Conclusion: It is concluded that the PTSD patients, even after successful trauma-focused treatment, tend to expect further significant positive changes. However, therapeutic effects were stable half a year after the psychotherapy, and patients tend to have false expectations about further improvement of their condition.

Keywords:

• Post-traumatic stress
• PTSD
• psychotherapy
• expectations
• trauma

Acknowledgements

We are grateful for Professor Berthold P.R. Gersons for cooperation and support for this study.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the grant (No. MIP-011/2012) from the Research Council of Lithuania.