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It is well known that psychoanalytic control cases frequently terminate prematurely and often abruptly. This can be a traumatic and disillusioning experience for both the candidate-analysts and their analysands. A study was undertaken to survey the magnitude of this problem as well as to consider factors that might prove to be associated with early termination.
This project was a combined Toronto Institute of Psychoanalysis (T.I.P.) and Institut Psychanalytique de Montreal (I.P.M.) assessment and outcome study to determine the frequency and characteristics of control patients who drop out, as well as to investigate some features of the candidate analysts involved. For the purpose of this study, premature termination was defined as meaning any analysand unilaterally leaving psychoanalysis before a minimal treatment period, that is after less than 12 months (approximately 200 hours) of analysis.
The extent of patient dropout or analytic attrition, provides a definitive and useful outcome focus that can be measured, and relevant comparisons made concerning both patient and therapist characteristics at the time of the analytic assessment and at termination. In psychoanalytic research the terms premature termination, forced termination, unilateral termination, patient withdrawal, attrition and dropout have been used interchangeably, although some analysts feel that the word termination should be reserved for the therapeutic end phase and its intricate resolutions rather than an analytic interruption.
The dropout rate is a major issue in all outcome investigations and should be assessed and reported, yet frequently the premature termination