Long-term effect of combined interpersonal psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy in a randomized trial of depressed patients.

Objective: Evaluation of the long-term benefits of combined pharmacological and psychotherapeutic depression treatment and the differential impact of early childhood trauma.

Method: A randomized trial was conducted in 124 in-patients with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder comparing 5 weeks of interpersonal psychotherapy plus pharmacotherapy (IPT) with medication plus clinical management (CM). The study included a prospective, naturalistic follow-up 3, 12 and 75 months after in-patient treatment.

Cognitive behavioral analysis system of psychotherapy versus interpersonal psychotherapy for early-onset chronic depression: a randomized pilot study.

Background: The only psychotherapy specifically designed and evaluated for the treatment of chronic depression, the Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP), has never been directly compared to another depression-specific psychological method.

Methods: Thirty patients with early-onset chronic depression were randomized to 22 sessions of CBASP or Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) provided in 16 weeks. Primary outcome was the score on the 24-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) assessed posttreatment by an independent blinded evaluator.

Time course of response to antidepressants: predictive value of early improvement and effect of additional psychotherapy.

Background: The full response to antidepressant pharmacotherapy is evident only after several weeks, but considerable improvements may already be visible within the first two weeks. Little is known about the potential influence of additional psychotherapy on the speed of response to antidepressant treatment. We have analysed in more severely depressed inpatients treated with antidepressants i) the predictive value of early improvement for later response and ii) the impact of additional psychotherapy on the time course of response.

[The adherence of clinical management in a randomized controlled trial. Results from a psychotherapy study].

CM is increasingly used as a control condition in depression research. In the present study, the adherence of standardized CM sessions and their influence on outcome in depressed inpatients was investigated for the first time. In a randomized controlled trial, 43 inpatients with a diagnosis of Major Depression received medication treatment plus three-weekly CM sessions for 5 weeks.

Efficacy of Interpersonal Psychotherapy plus pharmacotherapy in chronically depressed inpatients.

Background: Clinical guidelines recommend the combination of pharmaco- and psychotherapy for the treatment of chronic depression, although there are only a few studies supporting an additive effect of psychotherapy.

Methods: Forty-five inpatients with a chronic Major Depressive Disorder were randomized to 5 weeks of either Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) modified for an inpatient setting (15 individual and 8 group sessions) plus pharmacotherapy or to medication plus Clinical Management (CM). The 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression was the primary outcome measure.