What do patients learn in CBT? – Comparing different perspectives on patients' learning processes

Prior research has shown that patients make coping and clarification experiences within psychotherapy sessions and use helpful skills in dealing with their problems more frequently over the course of psychotherapy. However, it is still unclear what exactly patients take away from their therapy sessions and to what extent they implement acquired learning experiences in their everyday life. The current study extends previous research by comparing perspectives of patients, their therapists and independent raters on what patients learned within a single videotaped psychotherapy session. Moreover, it is examined if successful learning predicts subsequent symptom reduction. Learning processes of patients of a psychotherapeutic outpatient clinic are examined as part of a naturalistic study over two therapy sessions using a mixed-methods design. After the first therapy session, patients, their therapists, and independent raters are asked about insights and strategies that patients acquired from the session. In the subsequent therapy session, patients report how often they used the acquired strategies in their everyday live since the previous session. unknown other