[Psychotherapy of adjustment disorders]

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the long-term effects of outpatient client-centered psychotherapy limited to 12 sessions on patients with adjustment disorder (ICD-10 F43.2). The patients in the follow-up study (n = 25) had been diagnosed to be suffering from an adjustment disorder in response to one of the following stressful events: the loss of an important person or a severe negative experience at work or university with lasting negative consequences. Two years after completion of treatment they were examined in regard to their levels of anxiety, depression and satisfaction with life by applying standardized measures. According to self-ratings lasting significant improvements in comparison to the initial symptom severity and no impairment in comparison to the results immediately after the end of the therapy could be observed. Subsequently the symptom decrease gained in the short-term therapy period is clearly maintained over the post-therapy period. Post-treatment gains after two years in the meaning of subsequent improvements - as often discovered in client-centered psychotherapies - could, however, not be demonstrated for patients with this type of disorder.