Expectations and perception of the psychotherapy process and outcome. Psychotherapeutic factors and the psychodrama specificities in psychodrama group participants at a psychiatric hospital

In the present article of the Zeitschrift für Psychodrama und Soziometrie, the expectations (self-assessed at the beginning of the treatment) and perception (self-assessed upon the conclusion of the treatment) of the psychotherapy process and outcome, psychotherapeutic factors and psychodrama specificities are presented and analysed in a psychodrama group for adult participants held in an outpatient psychiatric clinic. There were 12 male and 31 female participants, aged from 19 to 63 years, diagnosed with anxiety, depression, and borderline personality disorder or committed into the hospital after their first psychotic episode. Questionnaires were applied at the beginning of the treatment and at the end. Results showed that the participants’ expectations regarding the psychotherapy process and outcomes were quite high at the beginning of the treatment and rose significantly at the end. The same was true of the participants’ expectations and perception of the specificities of psychodrama—demonstrating the participants’ positive inclination towards this specific psychotherapeutic way of conducting psychodrama. Even though there were no age or gender differences, there were, differences between participants’ different diagnoses; there were significant differences in the expectations of both psychotherapy outcome and factors before treatment and perceptions of them after treatment.