[Motivational factors and the psychotherapeutic change]

The purpose of the study was to investigate the stability of motivation to psychotherapy and the relationship between motivation and clinical improvement.

The data were collected from 274 patients. As the key questionnaire, we used the Questionnaire of Motivation, measuring four factors: helplessness, activity, sense of wrong, sense of threat. Three other questionnaires were applied: Hopkins Symptoms Check List, Adjective Check List, Sense of Coherence.

Motivation was found an important, but not a dominant factor influencing the psychotherapy outcome. Motivation showed the strongest influence on symptom level at the time of admission to the clinic. The personality variables had stronger influence at the end of the treatment. Helplessness, sense of wrong and sense of threat showed a steady decline both during the waiting list period and during the therapy. The level of activity factor rosed significantly during the treatment, parallel to the clinical improvement. The helplessness motivational factor was predominant at both pre-treatment occasions.

The ability to being active was an important predictor ofpsychotherapeutic change. The role of helplessness at the beginning of the treatment may be considered as powerlessness in the face of intensity of symptoms.