“Why Come for Treatment?” Clients’ and Therapists’ Accounts of the Presenting Problems When Seeking Mental Health Care

Abstract

Although identification of main problems is the foundation for treatment planning, limited research has examined reasons for seeking mental health care. We identified reasons for seeking mental health care as reported by clients and therapists upon initial contact with mental health services. We conducted in-depth interviews with clients and their therapists immediately following the intake. We analyzed 117 therapist and 112 client interviews using thematic analysis. Overall interrater reliability among three raters who coded the interviews was high (kappa = 0.72). Our findings suggest that, overall, clients and therapists report similar main area problems that bring clients to care. Emotional distress and other psychiatric symptoms as well as interpersonal problems were most prevalent. Therapists tended to ignore some problem areas that clients highlighted, including physical problems and socioeconomic strains. Raising awareness to potential gaps in perception of main problems that bring clients to care will promote a shared understanding and improve quality of care.