Therapist Effects on Attrition in Psychotherapy Outpatients

Dirk Zimmermann illustrates that some therapists significantly differ concerning their average dropout rates. He points out that initial impairment is a strong predictor of early termination. Different dropout criteria as well as various explaining variables on patient and on therapist level were assessed. Premature treatment termination is a common phenomenon in psychotherapy with mean dropout rates of about 20%. Therapist effects account for 3%–4% of the variation in dropout.