Predicting the outcome of behaviour therapy by psychological tests

A battery of psychological tests was devised, and used in an attempt to predict the outcome of behaviour therapy. Nineteen patients who requested treatment for transvestism were tested, and thirteen of these subsequently presented for treatment. The patients were grouped into those who failed to attend for treatment, those who were treated and apparently ‘cured’, and those who relapsed after the completion of treatment. Comparison of the test results in these groups showed that statistically acceptable differentiation could be obtained from the results of the Neuroticism scale of the MPI, the results of verbal conditioning, and the scores on the Slater Masculinity-Femininity Interest scale. It is argued that these results imply that the symptomatology of the recovered group compared with that of the other groups, was less complex and extensive. Some of the theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.