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Abstract Patients' motivational characteristics are of crucial importance for the effectiveness of inpatient psychotherapy. In the present study of 250 patients from a German psychotherapy ward, 4 dimensions of motivation for psychotherapy (negative illness consequences, psychosocial lay etiology, psychotherapeutic treatment expectations, openness to psychotherapy) were assessed using a questionnaire measure of psychotherapy motivation (Fragebogen zur Messung der Psychotherapiemotivation) and related to pre- and posttherapy changes in symptomatology. Psychological symptoms as well as interpersonal problems were considered indicators of treatment effects. Results support the expectation that a psychosocial causal attribution of illness symptoms and a marked general openness to psychotherapy at the pretreatment interview predict more positive treatment outcomes. In the subsample of patients with somatization/dissociative disorders low in openness, an increased risk of ineffective treatment was evident. Implications of the results of pretreatment interventions are discussed.
Schneider et al. (Fri,) studied this question.