On facing facts: what kinds of information do pre-assessment psychotherapy questionnaires provide?

More than two-thirds of NHS psychotherapy departments now use questionnaires in assessment of new patients. Their content is described for the first time. Most are primarily designed to gather biographical information but salient questions are frequently omitted. These questionnaires have suffered from being designed and used in isolation. Psychotherapy service providers need to consider how collaboration will enable questionnaires to be more effective during their assessments and to assist research into which historical factors are of greatest prognostic significance among newly referred patients.