Evaluation of the results of brief psychotherapeutic interventions in the community of Bauru city

Abstract

In the last decades brief psychotherapy techniques have been developed and implemented by mental health professionals, in order to provide psychological care to a greater number of people in need of it, as well as to economically less privileged people, who seek public health institutions for help. Within this working philosophy, the present project was carried out in the Center of Applied Psychology (CAP) of UNESP - São Paulo State University, in Bauru campus, during 2002 and 2003. Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy was used; it is a focal technique, of limited time and objectives, developed from psychoanalytical knowledge, which allows more flexible attention, according to the needs of the different patients. These were from the community of Bauru city and were in the waiting list for attention. We had the collaboration of 27 students, trainees in Brief Psychotherapy, who cared for 36 patients under the supervision and orientation of the programme´s coordinator. All the patients were selected according to selection criteria previously defined. Each of them received 25 one-to-one sessions of 50 minutes each (two interviews and 23 therapeutic sessions), twice a week. The results of the therapeutic work were evaluated through: a clinical evaluation conducted by the supervisor together with the trainees; an objective evaluation by the General Health Questionnaire, and another subjective one, by the patient himself. The results are presented in tables and discussed. 31 of the 36 attended patients completed their psychotherapy. The clinical evaluation showed that 27 had moderate to great improvement; 19 showed slight to great improvement, according to the General Health Questionnaire; 30 evaluated positively their psychotherapy according to the Subjective Evaluation Questionnaire. The results were highly satisfactory and show the benefits of a planned and supervised programme of brief psychotherapy for the community.