Client Perspectives on what Contributes to Symptom Relief in Psychotherapy: A Qualitative Outcome Study

Assessing psychotherapy outcome with post-therapy questionnaires and self-report instruments does not adequately capture the richness and complexity of change during psychotherapy and relies too heavily on quantitative analysis. This qualitative study explored the lived experience of symptom relief in psychotherapy as perceived by client participants and treats their subjective accounts as credible data. The scientific phenomenological method developed by A. Giorgi was used to conduct in-depth interviews with 3 participants who experienced symptom relief during the course of psychotherapy.