Psychological mindedness and symptom reduction after psychotherapy in a heterogeneous psychiatric sample.

Background: Psychological mindedness (PM) has been claimed to be beneficial for outcome of various forms of psychotherapy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of PM on the therapy results of a psychiatric patient sample with heterogeneous psychological symptoms.

Methods: Participants were 110 patients with different diagnoses who were hospitalized at the Center for Psychological Recovery (Rosmalen, Netherlands). Before and after treatment, they were asked to complete the Balanced Index of Psychological Mindedness and the Symptom Checklist-90.

Results: Baseline PM was not associated with a decrease in symptom scores (F(8,73) < 1.0; P > .20; partial eta(2) < 0.10). However, PM increased over the course of the intervention (F(2,84) = 43.54; P < .001; eta(2) = 0.51) and larger increases in the insight component of PM were associated with larger decreases on 6 of 8 symptom scores (F(8,70) = 3.55; P < .005; partial eta(2) = 0.29).

Conclusions: These results suggest that although a high PM is not a prerequisite for successful cognitive behavioral therapy, an increase in insight is associated with better outcome.