Low Dropout Rate in a Psychiatric Clinic

Abstract

The dropout rate in the Hutchinson Memorial Psychiatric Resident Clinic of the Tulane University Department of Psychiatry and Neurology is much smaller than any of the rates reported by other psychiatric outpatient clinics. According to Rosenthal and Frank¹ who surveyed the literature and reviewed the statistics of their own and other clinics, the dropout rate for all clinics reporting has been very close to 50%. A dropout patient is defined as one who has discontinued therapy, for whatever reason, before completing 6 treatment sessions. In our clinic the dropout rate is only 6% (Table 1). In view of the reports from other clinics and of the findings in the Phipps Clinic, Rosenthal and Frank had serious doubts about the advisability of doing "insight" therapy in a psychiatric outpatient clinic. If "approximately half of all patients had 5 or fewer hours of therapy" it would