The cost and utilization of psychotherapy in Community-bases Mental Health Services. A multicentre study in five Italian areas

Abstract

SUMMARYAims— To investigate the prevalence of psychotherapy intervention in five Italian Centres for Mental Health. Analysing sociodemographic characteristics, geographical differences, frequencies of psychotherapy interventions, and the costs of these interventions.Methods— Five Italian Community—based Psychiatric Services collected data from 1250 patients during October 2002. Socio—demographic and clinical characteristics and GAF scores were collected at baseline. All psychiatric contacts during the following six months were recorded and categorised into 24 service contact categories. A comparison between patients who received or did not receive psychotherapy was made.Results— The socio—demographic characteristics of patients are very similar to those found in previous studies; there is a great difference in the number of psychotherapy treatments between the five areas. Psychotherapy patients use different services compared to the other patients, and their care cost less.Conclusions— This study provides a description of the provision of psychotherapy by Italian Mental Health Services. Further research is required into this topic.Declaration of Interest:None.