Adolescents' dropout from individual psychotherapy—is it true?

• Published in: Journal of adolescence (London, England.) Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 197 - 205
• Main Author: Suzuki, Ryu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.06.1989; Elsevier Science; Academic Press for the Association for the Psychiatric Study of Adolescents; John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Subjects: Acting Out; Adolescent; Biological and medical sciences; Child psychology; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Patient Dropouts - psychology; Physician-Patient Relations; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychotherapies. Psychological and clinical counseling; Psychotherapy; Referral and Consultation; Risk Factors; School dropouts; Therapy; Treatments; Human; Treatment dropout; Transference countertransference; Individual psychotherapy; Therapeutic relation; Adolescent
• ISSN: 0140-1971; 1095-9254
• DOI: 10.1016/0140-1971(89)90008-0

Although adolescent patients are said to have a propensity to drop out from psychotherapy, and clinical experiences seem to support this view, few studies have systematically examined this issue. However, a review of researches on adults' dropout shows that dropout is a serious problem for psychotherapy with adult patients. Moreover, available evidence on adolescents' dropout suggests that there is no significant difference in the rates of dropout from psychotherapy between adolescent patients and adult ones. In order to understand the specific quality of adolescents' dropout, the termination of psychotherapy with an adolescent patient is described and discussed. The view is put forward that it is because of the strong counter-transference feelings evoked in the therapist, when his adolescent patient leaves him prematurely, tends to maintain the impression of adolescents' proclivity to drop out from psychotherapy.