Termination of psychotherapy: a systematic review

This paper provides a systematic review of literature on the termination phase of adult individual psychotherapy, adhering meticulously to the PRISMA guidelines. The review was carried out independently by two researchers. The initial search results yielded 1809 articles, although after exclusion criteria, 48 articles were identified. Backward citation added 19 relevant articles, resulting in the retrieval of 67 articles. Data of the retrieved articles were extracted and reported, covering various themes and ideas such as reasons for termination, types of terminations, the initiation of termination, duration of therapy, termination criteria, termination discussion, the termination period, patients' feelings at termination, therapists' feelings at termination, processing termination, successful or unsuccessful terminations and post-termination contact. The synthesis of this empirically based data serves as a valuable resource for both researchers and clinicians, facilitating easy access to important information.