“Researcher finds Intensive Short-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy reduced depressive symptoms in patients who did not improve with pharmacological treatment.“
This report by Dr. José Giovanni Luiggi-Hernández has been published by Mad in America. It begins:
“A recent study published in Psychotherapy suggests that Intensive Short-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) is an effective treatment for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). The study found that ISTDP had positive results, especially for patients who did not experience relief from depressive symptoms while taking antidepressants.
During the randomized controlled trial (RCT), researchers discovered that ISTDP significantly decreased negative affect and emotional repression, both of which are linked to depression. Additionally, participants continued to experience the benefits of treatment even three months after the trial ended.
“‘The findings show that ISTDP for TRD’s effect is not limited to depressive symptoms, but that negative affect is more broadly reduced. ISTDP can decrease emotional repression, which is consistent with its presumed working mechanisms,’ the authors write. ‘Together, this indicates that ISTDP might be a promising treatment for TRD. This is of considerable relevance, as TRD is a prevalent disorder associated with significant personal and societal costs, for which other psychotherapies have failed to be shown efficacious relative to treatment-as-usual.‘”
The study was conducted by Rasoul Heshmati of the University of Tabriz alongside Frederik J. Wienicke and Ellen Driessen from Radboud University’s Behavioural Science Institute …”
You can read more from here.
