The Cost of Therapy Services Provided by a Day Psychotherapy Unit

Abstract

The sole clinical evaluation of a therapeutic approach is not enough anymore; cost-effectiveness studies are also necessary. The findings of several studies agree that community-based care services and psychotherapy reduce the cost of mental health consumers. However, much of the ‘psychiatric reform’ process throughout Europe is not based on knowledge of cost and effectiveness of various interventions. On the contrary, it seems that several myths concerning the cost of psychotherapy still have an impact on the choices of clinicians. The aim of the present study is to measure psychotherapy’s financial cost both for the patient and for the providing organization; in our case the latter is the Open Psychotherapy Centre: an autonomous, self-sufficient and non-profit psychotherapy day centre, which is not financially supported by any other organization inside or outside of Greece. The results confirm the operational viability of such unit and the observance of the constitution’s principles (i.e. good working conditions, practising psychotherapy on a daily basis especially for the seriously disturbed patients and the fact that psychotherapy may be accessible to all patients regardless of their diagnosis or economic status), the low cost of psychotherapy for the patient and the providing organization, especially that of group psychotherapy (group analysis and therapeutic community) compared to dyadic psychotherapy.