A meta-analytic review of the effectiveness of inpatient group psychotherapy.

Institute of Medical Psychology,University Hospital JenaThe effectiveness of inpatient group therapy was estimated in a meta-analysis of 24controlled and 46 studies with pre-post-measures published between 1980 and 2004.Diagnosis, theoretical orientation and the role of the group in the particular treatmentsetting were used to examine differential effectiveness. Benecial effects were foundforinpatientgrouptherapyincontrolledstudies( d 0.31)aswellasinthestudieswithpre-post-data ( d 0.59). Differences in the homogeneity of patient improvement effectsizes were found across different diagnostic categories. Furthermore, greater improve-ment was exhibited in mood disorder patients when compared to mixed, psychoso-matic, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and schizophrenic patients replicatingrecent ndings from meta-analyses of outpatient group treatment. A comparisonbetween controlled studies and pre-post-measure studies indicated no improvement forwaitlist patients which contradicts previous reports. Implications for therapy and futureresearch are discussed within the context of methodical considerations.