This naturalistic study examined the outcome of psychodynamic psychotherapy with 218 adolescents and young adults aged 14–24 years. Analysis of variance showed significant improvement of general functioning on Children’s Global Assessment Scale (CGAS) and Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) and decreased symptom severity on Symptoms Checklist-90 (SCL-90) upon completion of psychotherapy, as well as a clinically significant improvement in a large percentage of cases. Effect sizes were equivalent to those evident in a clinical comparison group and larger than in prior research. The main limitation of this study was the lack of a control group, partially compensated for through the use of comparison groups and high external validity. The study seeks to fill a gap in an important yet overlooked field of research.
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