Locus of control and cognitive behaviour therapy with mastectomy patients: a pilot study

A cognitive behaviour therapy programme was designed for use with mastectomy patients, and a pilot study performed to test the efficacy of the programme. This article reports the locus of control data collected during the pilot study and the relationship between these data and the clinical assessment measures. Lower chance scores at pre-treatment are associated with greater clinical improvement as predicted. Surprisingly, however, there is an increase in chance scores over treatment although this disappears at follow-up. Patients who also received medication scored higher on internal control than those who did not. These results are discussed and it was concluded that antidepressant medication may assist the cognitive therapy programme.