In 2003:
Quote:
What is the average length of therapy (how many sessions)?
The average length of therapy is fewer than 12 sessions: "Epidemiological studies show that the majority of patients in psychotherapy have a relatively small number of therapy sessions. The average duration of a psychotherapy is put at between five and eight sessions." International Psychoanalysis Newsletter http://194.201.138.26/newsletter/99-1/D2.htm
"Research shows that the average length of psychotherapy treatment is 6-10 sessions." Arizona Psychological Association http://www.azpa.org/gi.html
"Even when psychiatric care is free, only 4.3% of the population uses outpatient psychotherapy, and the average length of treatment is 11 sessions." American Psychoanalytical Association apsa-co.org
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Durations have only gotten shorter since then due to (A) increased pressure from insurers and (B) increased use of brief techniques - Brief solution focused therapy, Motivational interviewing and brief psychodynamic techniques.
The biggest skewing to the numbers are always the client "second thinkers," who show up for an appraisal but never return (and that's not counting the people who call, chat then make an appointment and never show.)
(I'll dig up the 3 to 6 session stat. I think it was related to a TAU vs DBT study iirc.)