scholarly journals TA Treatment of Depression. A Simplified Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design. The Case of “Giovanni”

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 4-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariavittoria Zanchetta ◽  
Laura Farina ◽  
Stefano Morena ◽  
Enrico Benelli

This study is inspired by previous case series replications of Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design which aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of a manualized transactional analysis treatment for depressive disorders and depressive personality. We address problems and difficulties emerged in previous case series, such as: spending time in training a group of people to conduct the hermeneutic analysis, organizing the involvement of external judges to give the final adjudication, and dealing with inconsistencies between quantitative and qualitative data. For these reasons, this study suggests a simplified method to conduct the hermeneutic analysis that require one person only, maintaining its validity. Therefore, we integrated hermeneutic design with the pragmatic case evaluation methodology in order to follow pre-defined criteria in analysing qualitative material. Furthermore, we present a way to use the Script System to detect changes in depressive symptomatology and depressive personality. We tested this approach to HSCED in the case of ‘Giovanni, a 17-years old white Italian boy who attended sixteen session of transactional analysis psychotherapy with a white Italian woman specializing in psychotherapy with 2 years of clinical experience. The patient satisfied DSM-5 criteria for moderate major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder.This is the second investigation which has evaluated the effectiveness of Transactional Analysis psychotherapy for depressed adolescents.  

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 32-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariavittoria Zanchetta ◽  
Alessia Picco ◽  
Barbara Revello ◽  
Cristina Piccirillo ◽  
Enrico Benelli

This study is the seventh of a series of seven and belongs to the second Italian systematic replication of findings from previous series that investigatedthe effectiveness of a manualized transactional analysistreatment for depressionthrough Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design. We address problems and difficulties emerged in previous case series, such as: spending time in training a group of people to conduct the hermeneutic analysis, organizing the involvement of external judges to give the final adjudication, and dealing with inconsistencies between quantitative and qualitative data. For these reasons, this study suggests a simplified method to conduct the hermeneutic analysis that require one person only, maintaining its validity. Therefore, we integrated hermeneutic design with the pragmatic case evaluation methodology in order to follow pre-defined criteria in analysing qualitative material. Furthermore, we present a way to use the Script System to detect changes in depressive symptomatology and depressive personality. We tested this approach to HSCED in the case of ‘Margherita’, a 56-years old white Italian woman who attended sixteen session of transactional analysis psychotherapy with a white Italian woman therapist with 5 years of clinical experience. The patient satisfied DSM-5 criteria for moderately severe major depressive disorder with anxious distress, and SWAP 200 criteria for traits of depressive, dependent, avoidant and hostile personality typeswith a high level of functioning.


Author(s):  
Enrico Benelli ◽  
Francesca Vulpiani ◽  
Giorgio Cristiano Cavallero ◽  
Vincenzo Calvo ◽  
Stefania Mannarini ◽  
...  

This study is the sixth of a series of seven and belongs to the second Italian systematic replication of findings from previous series that investigatedthe effectiveness of a manualized transactional analysistreatment for depressionthrough Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design.The therapist was a white Italian woman with 10 years of clinical experience and the patient, Beatrice, was a 45-year old white Italian woman who attended sixteen sessions of transactional analysis psychotherapy. Beatrice satisfied DSM 5 criteria for Major Depressive Disorder, Anxious Distress, with Dependent and Histrionic Personality Traits. The judges evaluated the case as a good outcome: the depressive and anxious symptomatology clinically and reliably improved over the course of the therapy and these improvements weremaintained throughoutthe duration of thefollowup intervals. Furthermore, the patient reported significant change in her post-treatment interview and these changes were directly attributed to the therapy.Citation - APA format:Benelli, E., Vulpiani, F., Cavallero, G., Calvo, V., Mannarini, S., Palmieri, A. and Zanchetta, M. (2018). TA Treatment of Depression: A Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design Study - Beatrice. International Journal of Transactional Analysis Research & Practice, 9(2), 42-63 https://doi.org/10.29044/v9i2p42


Author(s):  
Enrico Benelli ◽  
Sara Filanti ◽  
Roberta Musso ◽  
Vincenzo Calvo ◽  
Stefania Mannarini ◽  
...  

This study is the second of a series of seven, and belongs to the second Italian systematic replication of findings from two previous series (Widdowson 2012a, 2012b, 2012c, 2013; Benelli, 2016a, 2016b, 2016c) that investigated the effectiveness of a manualised transactional analysis treatment for depression through Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design. The therapist was a white Italian woman with 10 years of clinical experience and the client, Caterina, was a 28-year old white Italian woman who attended 16 sessions of transactional analysis psychotherapy. Caterina satisfied DSM-5 criteria for major depressive disorder with generalized anxiety disorder. The conclusion of the judges was that this was an outstanding good-outcome case: the depressive symptoms showed an early clinical and reliable improvement, maintained till the 6 months follow-up, accompanied by reductions in anxiety symptoms, global distress and severity of personal problems. Adherence to the manualised treatment for depression appears good to excellent. In this case study, transactional analysis treatment for depression has proven its efficacy in treating major depressive disorder in comorbidity with anxiety disorder.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David John Hallford ◽  
Manoj Kumar Sharma ◽  
David W. Austin

Depressed individuals have difficulty anticipating pleasure, which can impact motivation and functioning. One factor in this may be impairments in their episodic future thinking (EFT). This study examined whether enhancing EFT through increasing detail/vividness and mental imagery would increase anticipatory pleasure among individuals with Major Depressive Disorder. A randomized start-point, single case series design was used. Depressed outpatients (N = 7) completed surveys through the day over two weeks to nominate upcoming positive events and rate them on EFT detail/vividness, mental imagery, and anticipatory pleasure. At a randomized start-point, activities to enhance the detail/vividness and mental imagery for these upcoming events were introduced. Significant increases in detail and imagery were observed when EFT activities were introduced, which correlated with increases in how pleasurable it was thought the activities would be and how pleasurable it was thinking about them. Enhancing EFT may be a mechanism to increase anticipatory pleasure in depression. Implications for treatment are discussed.


2005 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Maag ◽  
Susan M. Swearer

Depression is one of the most commonly diagnosed psychiatric disorders among school-age youths. As such, school personnel should play an important role in the identification, assessment, and treatment of depression and related problems in school. School-based treatment of depression is especially relevant for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) and learning disabilities (LD) because they may be at a higher risk than their nondisabled peers of displaying depressive symptomatology. Cognitive-behavioral interventions (CBIs) have shown promise as an evidence-based treatment for childhood and adolescent depressive disorders. This article focuses on how CBI techniques can be used by school personnel under the proper clinical supervision for reducing students’ depressive symptomatology. First, common CBI techniques are described. Second, empirical studies using CBI to treat children and adolescents who are depressed are reviewed. Finally, implications for using these techniques in a collaborative effort among school psychologists, counselors, and special educators in an ethical and valid manner are presented.


Author(s):  
Enrico Benelli ◽  
Mario Augusto Procacci ◽  
Antonella Fornaro ◽  
Vincenzo Calvo ◽  
Stefania Mannarini ◽  
...  

This study is the fourth of a series of seven and belongs to the second Italian systematic replication of findings from previous series that investigated the effectiveness of a manualized transactional analysis treatment for depression through Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design. The therapist was a white Italian man with 17 years of clinical experience and the patient, Giorgio, was a 23-year-old white Italian man who attended sixteen sessions of transactional analysis psychotherapy. Giorgio satisfied DSM-5 criteria for Major Depressive Disorder, Persistent Depressive Disorder,Panic Disorder, Agoraphobia and Dependent Personality Disorder. The treatment focused on both symptoms remission and conflicts at the core of dependent personality. The judges evaluated the case as a good outcome, mediated by the work on core conflicts of personality, that enhanced the treatment outcome and the remission of depressive symptoms. This case study suggests that the classical treatment for depression may be enhanced by considering the conflicts at the base of personality traits or disorders.Citation - APA format:Benelli, E., Procacci, M., Fornaro, A., Calvo, V., Mannarini, S., Palmieri, A. and Zanchetta, M. (2018). TA Treatment of Depression:A Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design Study - Giorgio. International Journal of Transactional Analysis Research & Practice, 9(2), 3-22 https://doi.org/10.29044/v9i2p3


Author(s):  
Enrico Benelli ◽  
Francesco Scottà ◽  
Serena Barreca ◽  
Arianna Palmieri ◽  
Vincenzo Calvo ◽  
...  

This study is the second of a series of three, and represents an Italian replication of a previous UK -based case series (Widdowson 2012a, 2012b, 2012c, 2013) that investigated the effectiveness of a recently manualised transactional analysis treatment for depression with British clients, using Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design (HSCED). The various stages of HSCED as a systematic case study research method are described, as a quasi-judicial method to sift case evidence in which researchers construct opposing arguments around multiple sources of quantitative and qualitative evidence and judges evaluate these to conclude whether the client changed substantially over the course of therapy, and whether the outcome was attributable to the therapy. The therapist in this case was a white Italian man in the third year of training to become a psychotherapist, and the client, Penelope, was a 45-year old white Italian woman with mild depression and anxiety. The conclusion of the judges was that this was a mixed-outcome case: the client improved some aspects of her problems, without obtaining a complete and stable remission. Interestingly, this case presents a minimal correlation between empirical and proxy-rated indexes of depression and anxiety and answers to self reported questionnaires, raising the question of validity of self report measures with specific typology of client. 


Author(s):  
Mark Widdowson

Hermeneutic Single-Case EfficacyDesign (HSCED) is a systematic case study research method involving the cross-examination of mixed method data to generate both plausible arguments that the client changed due to therapy and alternative explanations. The present study is the fourth article of a case series which has investigated the process and outcome of transactional analysis psychotherapy using Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design (Elliott 2002). The client, Linda, was a 45 yearold white British woman with mild depression who attended nine sessions of therapy. The conclusion of the judges was that this was a mixed-outcome case:whilst the client improved over the course of therapy and was positive about her experience of therapy, her changes did not last when she experienced considerable stressful events during follow-up. Linda provided a detailed and idiosyncratic description of the aspects of the therapy which were most helpful for her. A cross-case comparison with other cases in this series suggests several interesting features which are worthy of further investigation. Specifically, the use of a shared theoretical framework and an egalitarian therapeutic relationship were helpful. As with other cases in this series, the client experienced positive changes in her interpersonal relationships suggesting that this outcome of TA therapy warrants further investigation


Author(s):  
Enrico Benelli ◽  
Maddalena Bergamaschi ◽  
Cristina Capoferri ◽  
Stefano Morena ◽  
Vincenzo Calvo ◽  
...  

This study is the third of a series of seven, and belongs to the second Italian systematic replication of findings from two previous series (Widdowson 2012a, 2012b, 2012c, 2013; Benelli, 2016a, 2016b, 2016c) that investigated the effectiveness of a manualised transactional analysis treatment for depression through Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design (HSCED). Major Depression and Subthreshold Depression are often in comorbidity with Anxiety disorders in childhood and adolescence and represent a risk factor for ongoing mental health problems in adulthood. The therapist was a white Italian woman with 15 years of clinical experience and the client, Deborah, was a 15-year old white Italian female adoloscent who attended sixteen sessions of transactional analysis psychotherapy. The conclusion of the judges was that this was a good-outcome case: the depressive and anxious symptomatology clinically and reliably improved over the course of the therapy and these improvements were maintained throughout the duration of the follow-up intervals. Furthermore, the client reported significant change in her post-treatment interview and these changes were directly attributed to the therapy. In this case study, the transactional analysis manualised treatment for depression in adulthood has demonstrated its effectiveness also in treating depressive and anxiety symptoms in adolescence.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document