No abstract

Three to eleven months after termination of therapeutic service, adolescent and adult patients from two successive years at a new mental health center evaluated the help they received. Less then 15% of them felt that they had not been helped by therapy. These former patients were primarily non-YA VIS types from an essentially blue-collar rural county. Replicated results illustrated that the more the former patients felt that the therapists were interested in them, the more they felt helped. The necessity of research in the age of accountability was discussed along with other pertinent issues.

In this study, the effectiveness of short-term implosive therapy was tested. 43 Ss with an ascertained fear of rats were divided into an experimental and a control group. The experimental Ss were treated by implosion; whereas the controls were exposed to relaxing cues. All therapy was conducted in 1 session. A posttest which consisted of picking up a rat was the criterion for success of the therapy. The behavior of the experimental group was significantly different (chi-square, p < .001) from that of the control group on the posttest. The utility of short-term implosion was demonstrated.

No abstract

Seventy-three former patients at a community mental health center during 1978-79 evaluated the services they'd received 8-19 months after termination. As in a previous study by Kirchner, less than 15% of them felt that they had not been helped. Another replicated result was that the more the former adolescent and adult patients felt that the therapists were interested in them, the more they felt helped. Most former patients neither sought further help, nor felt that they needed it after termination. A new variable case status, defined as new or reopened case, did not significantly influence patient evaluations. The need for research from community mental health centers in an age of accountability and curtailed funding was stressed.