How Outcome Measures Work in Therapy

If you are attending therapy with Talking Therapies UK, you will be asked to complete brief questionnaires at regular intervals throughout your treatment. These are called outcome measures, and they serve an important role in tracking your progress, informing your treatment plan, and ensuring that therapy is making a meaningful difference to your wellbeing.

The most commonly used measures in UK psychological therapy services include the PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire, which measures symptoms of depression), the GAD-7 (Generalised Anxiety Disorder scale), and the WSAS (Work and Social Adjustment Scale, which measures the impact of your difficulties on your daily functioning). Your therapist may also use disorder-specific measures relevant to your particular presentation, such as the PCL-5 for PTSD, the OCI-R for OCD, or the SPIN for social anxiety.

These questionnaires are not tests and there are no right or wrong answers. They simply ask you to rate how frequently you have experienced certain symptoms over the past week or fortnight. Your scores are plotted on a graph over time, allowing you and your therapist to see trends and patterns in your recovery. A decrease in scores over the course of therapy is generally a positive sign, whilst stable or increasing scores may prompt a review of your treatment plan.

Completing outcome measures honestly is one of the most helpful things you can do during therapy. It provides your therapist with objective data that complements your subjective experience, and it helps ensure that your treatment remains focused and effective.