Psychosocial Treatments for Major Depressive Disorder
Behavior therapy (BT), cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT), and interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) have each been shown by at least two Type 1 or Type 2 randomized controlled trials, as well as by four meta-analytic reports of the literature, to be effective psychosocial interventions for patients meeting criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD). All three psychosocial treatments have yielded substantial reductions in scores on the two major depression rating scales (the Beck Depression Inventory and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression), significant decreases in percentage of patients meeting the criteria for MDD at posttreatment, and substantial maintenance of effects well after treatment has ended. The data for outcomes of psychosocial and pharmacological interventions for major depressive episodes suggest that the two treatment modes are equally efficacious. At least one major study lends strong support for the superior effectiveness of combined psychosocial and pharmacological treatments with severe and chronic depression. Additional recently published data suggest that psychosocial interventions may be as effective as antidepressant medications in the treatment of severely depressed patients.