This article shows the recent history (from the 1990's to January 2006) and current perspectives of outcome studies on long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy in adult outpatients. Twenty-one inquiries are cited and analyzed, of which four were developed in Latin America and only one in Brazil. This shows that research is still scarce in Latin-American countries, despite the advances on outcome psychoanalytical investigations. The effectiveness of psychoanalytic psychotherapy was evidenced in a significant manner by several different research outlines. An evolution in research methodology used over the past years could be observed. The concern about placing the psychoanalytical investigation in association with scientific principles, without disregarding the subjectivity characteristic of this approach, is remarkable. The importance of psychoanalytical investigation to confirm the presupposed theory, the treatment efficacy/effectiveness and the possibility of refutation and modification of the psychoanalytical theory stand out.
Psychotherapy; psychotherapy; psychoanalytic therapy; outcome and process assessment (health care); history; research
