Abstract

This study aimed to systematize the socio-demographic information and consultation motives of those persons who attended the School of Psychology Psychological Services Center (CAP) at the University of Costa Rica. For this purpose, 743 files of patients who attended the CAP between 2004 and 2013 were analyzed. An increase of 1700% in the number of cases was found, along with a median of 10 sessions per consulting patient and 56.5 days of waiting time. Just over half of the cases were women, and most were from young adults, children and middle-aged adults, residents of cities nearby CAP such as San José, Montes de Oca, Goicoechea, Desamparados, Cartago and La Union, and with a variety of occupations, but with a preponderance of students. Furthermore, a wide variety of consultation motives was found, and they were grouped into 20 categories. Although none of these categories contains more than 10% of cases, most consultation motives correspond to categories related to the fields of the family or the couple (family problems, discipline problems or parenting, relationship problems, and break-up or divorce) and those related to the emotional component (emotional disturbance, sorrow or depression, and aggressiveness). Additional analysis of consultation motives by sex and age are presented.

Keywords: Clinical Psychology; Public Health; Health Statistics; Mental Health; Health