Patients´ and Therapists´ Reports of Psychotherapy Outcomes: Similarities and Differences

Discrepancies between therapists' and patients’ measures regarding therapeutic results indicate the need to analyze which symptoms and processes are being taken into consideration when reporting clinical change. This study analyzes the concordance between patient and therapist, at pre- and post-treatment, when reporting about anxiety, depression, Experiential Avoidance (EA), Cognitive Fusion (CF) and Activation (A).

Convergence was examined between information obtained by means of standardized measures and visual analogical scales (VAS) in 94 patients with anxiety and/or depression who participated in a controlled clinical study (TRANSACTIVA study).

Statistically significant correlation ( p < .05) was found between all the measures of anxiety and depression, regardless of the source, timepoint, and measures procedure at 95% confidence. In the VAS, patient and therapist agreed ( p < .05) in their evaluation of specific symptoms. For EA, CF and A, the therapists’ measures demonstrated stronger correlations than those of the patients, although, in each condition, all the patients’ measures correlated with each other ( p < .05).

Suitable agreement was found between therapist and patient when reporting clinical change. One-item VAS appeared to b suitable for identifying anxiety, depression and the transdiagnostic patterns of EA, CF and A.