Change during and after long-term analytic group psychotherapy

There are very few empirical studies of long-term, analytic group psychotherapy. Sixty-nine patients in long-term analytic group psychotherapy were evaluated from pretherapy to posttherapy, and one year after termination. The primary outcome measures were the Symptom Checklist-90 (Revised) and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems. In addition, the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) was scored independently by two evaluators. The average time in treatment was 32.5 months. The patients improved significantly during treatment, up to 30 months, on all measures. The improvement continued during the follow-up period. Sixty to 86% of the patients were recovered or significantly changed at follow-up.