A predominantly lower class sample of patients at a VA neuropsychiatric hospital waa surveyed to assess attitudes towards psychotherapy. Two types of data were secured: (a) an activities preference questionnaire designed to measure relative preferenca for 12 rehabilitation and therapeutic activities; (b) responses to structured and unstructured questions relating to activities and modes of treatment regarded as contributing to improvement in their illnesses. As expected, psychotherapy was regarded as less important than manually oriented activities. It was mentioned spontaneously by only ten percent of the patients as contributing t o their getting well. Patients with middle class backgrounds showed a greater preference for psychotherapy than patients with lower class backgrounds. Neither occupation nor severity of illness showed any relationship to activity preferences. The implications of the findings were discussed.
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6.CODY, IC. M. A primer for psychotherapists. New York: Ronald Press, 1951.