Therapeutic outcome as rated by patients, therapists, and judges

The views of patients, therapists, and research judges were compared as to the degree of success attained in 22 cases of long-term psychotherapy and 15 cases of psychoanalysis. Across all cases, there was a tendency for therapists to overrate their success, as compared to the other two sources; this, together with a tendency of therapists to overlook or misperceive patients' dissatisfaction with treatment outcome, suggested that the failure to recognize and deal with the patient's negative feelings was a factor in a substantial number of unsuccessful treatments. The research judges rated the psychoanalytic cases as successful with much less frequency than either patients or treating analysts; the disparity seemed partly due to differing frames of reference, but may also have relected the participants' needs to feel that their efforts had been worthwhile.