Influence of psychotherapy motivation on the course of psychotherapy

The motivational characteristics of psychotherapy inpatients should be of crucial importance for treatment effectiveness. In the present study on 219 patients from two psychosomatic-psychotherapeutic treatment centers, four dimensions of motivation for psychotherapy (illness experience; lay etiology; treatment expectations; openness to psychotherapy) were assessed using the Questionnaire for the Measurement of Psychotherapy Motivation (Fragebogen zur Messung der Psychotherapiemotivation; FMP) and related to pre-post changes in symptomatology. In these analyses, psychological symptoms (SCL-90-R) as well as interpersonal problems (IIP) were considered as indicators of treatment effects. The results support the expectation that (a) a psychosocial causal attribution of illness symptoms and (b) a marked general openness to psychotherapy at the pretreatment interview predict more positive treatment outcomes. Implications of the results for the indication of pretreatment interventions are discussed.