Study of psychiatric admission patterns before and after out-patient psychotherapy in a district service setting.

There is a need for evidence to demonstrate the clinical and economic effectiveness of psychotherapy as a component of mental health service delivery. A naturalistic cohort study was carried out in a specialist psychotherapy department in a district mental health service. Thirty-six patients were identified with hospital admissions in the study period who had also received a course of outpatient psychotherapy. There was a significant decrease in hospital in-patient usage temporally associated with receipt of psychotherapy and associated cost savings. Out-patient psychotherapy leads to less in-patient bed usage and significant health-care savings among previously hospitalized psychiatric patients (approximately 6700 pounds sterling per patient).