Characteristics of effective psychological treatments of depression: a metaregression analysis

The effect of cognitive behavioral group therapy for depression: a meta-analysis 2000-2010

OBJECTIVE

The goals of the meta-analysis were to investigate the overall effectiveness of cognitive behavioral group therapy (CBGT) for depression and relapse prevention in depression from 2000 to 2010, and to investigate how the variables (episode, residual symptoms, group size, control group, group manual, therapist experience, therapy frequency, session length, and take-home assignment) of a CBGT study could affect the effect size.

METHOD

This study collected actual study designs sought of CBGT for depression published from 2000 to 2010. These studies were then cross-referenced using Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) with the following keywords: group therapy, cognitive therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, cognitive behavioral group therapy, psychotherapy, depression, relapse, and recurrence. The quality of the studies was evaluated using Cochrane Collaboration Guidelines. The effect size of CBGT on depression and relapse prevention in depression used the formula devised by Hedges and Olkin (1985).

RESULTS

The study investigated the results of 32 studies on the effect of CBGT for depression. The CBGT had an immediate (g=-0.40) and continuous effect over 6 months (g=-0.38), but no continuous effect after 6 months (g=-0.06). The CBGT lowered the relapse rate of depression (RD = 0.16). Variables significantly different from each other in terms of immediate effect were: CBGT versus usual care, therapy sessions lasting longer than 1 hour, and take-home assignments. Preintervention severity of depression and patient turnover rate were found to be significantly related to the size of the immediate effect. The relapse rate after 6 months was significantly related only to "participants have no residual symptoms/participants did not mention residual symptoms."

CONCLUSIONS

Researchers and clinicians should take note that CBGT had a moderate effect on the level of depression and a small effect on the relapse rate of depression. The results of this study suggest that the patient should receive a course of therapy at least every 6 months.

Harnessing context sensing to develop a mobile intervention for depression

Background

Mobile phone sensors can be used to develop context-aware systems that automatically detect when patients require assistance. Mobile phones can also provide ecological momentary interventions that deliver tailored assistance during problematic situations. However, such approaches have not yet been used to treat major depressive disorder.

Objective

The purpose of this study was to investigate the technical feasibility, functional reliability, and patient satisfaction with Mobilyze!, a mobile phone- and Internet-based intervention including ecological momentary intervention and context sensing.

Methods

We developed a mobile phone application and supporting architecture, in which machine learning models (ie, learners) predicted patients’ mood, emotions, cognitive/motivational states, activities, environmental context, and social context based on at least 38 concurrent phone sensor values (eg, global positioning system, ambient light, recent calls). The website included feedback graphs illustrating correlations between patients’ self-reported states, as well as didactics and tools teaching patients behavioral activation concepts. Brief telephone calls and emails with a clinician were used to promote adherence. We enrolled 8 adults with major depressive disorder in a single-arm pilot study to receive Mobilyze! and complete clinical assessments for 8 weeks.

Results

Promising accuracy rates (60% to 91%) were achieved by learners predicting categorical contextual states (eg, location). For states rated on scales (eg, mood), predictive capability was poor. Participants were satisfied with the phone application and improved significantly on self-reported depressive symptoms (beta_week = –.82, P < .001, per-protocol Cohen d = 3.43) and interview measures of depressive symptoms (beta_week = –.81, P < .001, per-protocol Cohen d = 3.55). Participants also became less likely to meet criteria for major depressive disorder diagnosis (b_week = –.65, P = .03, per-protocol remission rate = 85.71%). Comorbid anxiety symptoms also decreased (beta_week = –.71, P < .001, per-protocol Cohen d = 2.58).

Conclusions

Mobilyze! is a scalable, feasible intervention with preliminary evidence of efficacy. To our knowledge, it is the first ecological momentary intervention for unipolar depression, as well as one of the first attempts to use context sensing to identify mental health-related states. Several lessons learned regarding technical functionality, data mining, and software development process are discussed.

Trial Registration

Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01107041; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01107041 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/60CVjPH0n)

Acceptance-based interventions for the treatment of chronic pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Acceptance-based interventions such as mindfulness-based stress reduction program and acceptance and commitment therapy are alternative therapies for cognitive behavioral therapy for treating chronic pain patients. To assess the effects of acceptance-based interventions on patients with chronic pain, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled and noncontrolled studies reporting effects on mental and physical health of pain patients. All studies were rated for quality. Primary outcome measures were pain intensity and depression. Secondary outcomes were anxiety, physical wellbeing, and quality of life. Twenty-two studies (9 randomized controlled studies, 5 clinical controlled studies [without randomization] and 8 noncontrolled studies) were included, totaling 1235 patients with chronic pain. An effect size on pain of 0.37 was found for the controlled studies. The effect on depression was 0.32. The quality of the studies was not found to moderate the effects of acceptance-based interventions. The results suggest that at present mindfulness-based stress reduction program and acceptance and commitment therapy are not superior to cognitive behavioral therapy but can be good alternatives. More high-quality studies are needed. It is recommended to focus on therapies that integrate mindfulness and behavioral therapy. Acceptance-based therapies have small to medium effects on physical and mental health in chronic pain patients. These effects are comparable to those of cognitive behavioral therapy.

Psychological treatment of depression in inpatients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Research on psychological treatment of depression in inpatients is not conclusive, with some studies finding clear positive effects and other studies finding no significant benefit compared to usual care or structured pharmacotherapy. The results of a meta-analysis investigating how effective psychological treatment is for depressed inpatients are presented. A systematic search in bibliographical databases resulted in 12 studies with a total of 570 respondents. This set of studies had sufficient statistical power to detect small effect sizes. Psychological treatments had a small (g=0.29), but statistically significant additional effect on depression compared to usual care and structured pharmacological treatments only. This corresponded with a numbers-needed-to-be-treated of 6.17. Heterogeneity was zero in most analyses, and not significant in all analyses. There was no indication for significant publication bias. Effects were not associated with characteristics of the population, the interventions and the design of the studies. Although the number of studies was small, and the quality of many studies was not optimal, it seems safe to conclude that psychological treatments have a small but robust effect on depression in depressed inpatients. More high-quality research is needed to verify these results.

A longitudinal study of emotional experience, expressivity, and psychopathology in psychotherapy inpatients and psychologically healthy persons

The authors investigated changes of emotional experience and expressivity in 34 inpatients undergoing psychodynamic therapy and in 29 healthy persons who were assessed at parallel time intervals. Participants completed 2 measures of psychopathology (Symptom Checklist-90 Revised and Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-64) and took part in relationship episode interviews. The emotional experiences they reported and their nonverbal emotional expressivity during the interviews were assessed by independent raters. Regardless of when they were assessed, the patients reported a greater number of emotions and a greater variety of emotions. Psychopathology in the patient group decreased in the course of treatment, but there were no systematic changes in the emotional domain. The findings challenge the common notion of psychopathology being associated with impaired awareness and expression of emotions.

The promise and pitfalls of the internet for cognitive behavioral therapy

Internet-administered cognitive behavior therapy is a promising new way to deliver psychological treatment. There are an increasing number of controlled trials in various fields such as anxiety disorders, mood disorders and health conditions such as headache and insomnia. Among the advantages for the field of cognitive behavior therapy is the dissemination of the treatment, being able to access treatment from a distance, and possibilities to tailor the interventions. To date, studies in which large effects have been obtained have included patient support from a clinician. Recent trials suggest that this support may come from non-clinicians and that therapist effects are minimal. Since studies also suggest that internet-delivered cognitive behavior therapy can be equally effective as face-to-face cognitive behavior therapy, this is a finding that may have implications for CBT practitioners. However, there are other aspects to consider for implementation, as while clinicians may hold positive attitudes towards internet-delivered CBT a recent study suggested that patients are more skeptical and may prefer face-to-face treatment. In the present work, I argue that internet-delivered CBT may help to increase adherence to treatment protocols, that training can be facilitated by means of internet support, and that research on internet interventions can lead to new insights regarding what happens in regular CBT. Moreover, I conclude that internet-delivered CBT works best when support is provided, leaving an important role for clinicians who can incorporate internet treatment in their services. However, I also warn against disseminating internet-delivered CBT to patients for whom it is not suitable, and that clinical skills may suffer if clinicians are trained and practice mainly using the internet.

A review of empirically supported psychological therapies for mood disorders in adults

BACKGROUND

The mood disorders are prevalent and problematic. We review randomized controlled psychotherapy trials to find those that are empirically supported with respect to acute symptom reduction and the prevention of subsequent relapse and recurrence.

METHODS

We searched the PsycINFO and PubMed databases and the reference sections of chapters and journal articles to identify appropriate articles.

RESULTS

One hundred twenty-five studies were found evaluating treatment efficacy for the various mood disorders. With respect to the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD), interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), and behavior therapy (BT) are efficacious and specific and brief dynamic therapy (BDT) and emotion-focused therapy (EFT) are possibly efficacious. CBT is efficacious and specific, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) efficacious, and BDT and EFT possibly efficacious in the prevention of relapse/recurrence following treatment termination and IPT and CBT are each possibly efficacious in the prevention of relapse/recurrence if continued or maintained. IPT is possibly efficacious in the treatment of dysthymic disorder. With respect to bipolar disorder (BD), CBT and family-focused therapy (FFT) are efficacious and interpersonal social rhythm therapy (IPSRT) possibly efficacious as adjuncts to medication in the treatment of depression. Psychoeducation (PE) is efficacious in the prevention of mania/hypomania (and possibly depression) and FFT is efficacious and IPSRT and CBT possibly efficacious in preventing bipolar episodes.

CONCLUSIONS

The newer psychological interventions are as efficacious as and more enduring than medications in the treatment of MDD and may enhance the efficacy of medications in the treatment of BD.

Psychological treatment of depressive symptoms in patients with medical disorders: a meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

It is widely acknowledged that the prevalence of depression in the general population is high, but that it is even higher for patients with medical disorders. Yet, the effectiveness of psychological treatments in these patient populations has not been firmly established.

METHODS

We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies examining the effects of psychological treatments in patients with 1 of 10 different medical disorders and elevated levels of depression. Extensive searches were performed in PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials.

RESULTS

We included 23 studies. The overall effect size of the 15 studies that compared psychological treatments with a waitlist or care-as-usual control group was d=1.00 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.57-1.44] but declined to d=0.42 (95% CI, 0.27-0.58) after removing two outliers with extremely high effects. We tested the type of disorder, inclusion based on diagnostic criteria or symptoms, type of treatment, treatment format, type of control group, and intention-to-treat or completers analyses, but none of these variables were significantly associated with the effect. The four studies that compared one type of psychotherapy to another showed a positive effect of cognitive behavioral therapy and interpersonal therapy compared to supportive therapy (d=0.42; 95% CI, 0.14-0.69). There were not enough studies (n=3) to draw any conclusions about the comparison of psychotherapy to pharmacotherapy.

CONCLUSION

We conclude that the effects of psychological treatment of patients with medical disorders are very similar to those found in otherwise healthy patients. Treating this comorbid depression should be one of the priorities in medical care settings.

Mental health treatment to reduce HIV transmission risk behavior: a positive prevention model

Secondary HIV prevention, or "positive prevention," is concerned with reducing HIV transmission risk behavior and optimizing the health and quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The association between mental health and HIV transmission risk (i.e., sexual risk and poor medication adherence) is well established, although most of this evidence is observational. Further, a number of efficacious mental health treatments are available for PLWHA yet few positive prevention interventions integrate mental health treatment. We propose that mental health treatment, including behavioral and pharmacologic interventions, can lead to reductions in HIV transmission risk behavior and should be a core component of secondary HIV prevention. We present a conceptual model and recommendations to guide future research on the effect of mental health treatment on HIV transmission risk behavior among PLWHA.

The effects of psychotherapy for adult depression are overestimated: a meta-analysis of study quality and effect size

BACKGROUND

No meta-analytical study has examined whether the quality of the studies examining psychotherapy for adult depression is associated with the effect sizes found. This study assesses this association.

METHOD

We used a database of 115 randomized controlled trials in which 178 psychotherapies for adult depression were compared to a control condition. Eight quality criteria were assessed by two independent coders: participants met diagnostic criteria for a depressive disorder, a treatment manual was used, the therapists were trained, treatment integrity was checked, intention-to-treat analyses were used, N >or= 50, randomization was conducted by an independent party, and assessors of outcome were blinded.

RESULTS

Only 11 studies (16 comparisons) met the eight quality criteria. The standardized mean effect size found for the high-quality studies (d=0.22) was significantly smaller than in the other studies (d=0.74, p<0.001), even after restricting the sample to the subset of other studies that used the kind of care-as-usual or non-specific controls that tended to be used in the high-quality studies. Heterogeneity was zero in the group of high-quality studies. The numbers needed to be treated in the high-quality studies was 8, while it was 2 in the lower-quality studies.

CONCLUSIONS

We found strong evidence that the effects of psychotherapy for adult depression have been overestimated in meta-analytical studies. Although the effects of psychotherapy are significant, they are much smaller than was assumed until now, even after controlling for the type of control condition used.

Psychological treatment of depression in primary care: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Although most depressive disorders are treated in primary care and several studies have examined the effects of psychological treatment in primary care, hardly any meta-analytic research has been conducted in which the results of these studies are integrated.

AIM

To integrate the results of randomised controlled trials of psychological treatment of depression in adults in primary care, and to compare these results to psychological treatments in other settings.

DESIGN OF STUDY

A meta-analysis of studies examining the effects of psychological treatments of adult depression in primary care.

SETTING

Primary care.

METHOD

An existing database of studies on psychological treatments of adult depression that was built on systematic searches in PubMed, PsychINFO, EMBASE, and Dissertation Abstracts International was used. Randomised trials were included in which the effects of psychological treatments on adult primary care patients with depression were compared to a control condition.

RESULTS

In the 15 included studies, the standardised mean effect size of psychological treatment versus control groups was 0.31 (95% CI = 0.17 to 0.45), which corresponds with a numbers-needed-to-treat (NNT) of 5.75. Studies in which patients were referred by their GP for treatment had significantly higher effect sizes (d = 0.43; NNT = 4.20) than studies in which patients were recruited through systematic screening (d = 0.13, not significantly different from zero; NNT = 13.51).

CONCLUSIONS

Although the number of studies was relatively low and the quality varied, psychological treatment of depression was found to be effective in primary care, especially when GPs refer patients with depression for treatment.

Psychoeducational treatment and prevention of depression: the "Coping with Depression" course thirty years later

The "Coping with Depression" course (CWD) is by the far the best studied psychoeducational intervention for the treatment and prevention of depression, and is used in routine practice in several countries. The CWD is a highly structured cognitive-behavioral intervention, which has been adapted for several goals, contexts, and target populations. The efficacy of the CWD has been examined in 25 randomized controlled trials. We conducted a meta-analysis of these studies. The 6 studies aimed at the prevention of new cases of major depression were found to result in a reduced risk of getting major depression of 38% (incidence rate ratio was 0.62). The 18 studies examining the CWD as a treatment of depression found a mean effect size (Cohen's d) of 0.28. Direct comparisons with other psychotherapies did not result in any indication that the CWD was less efficacious. The CWD is a flexible treatment which can easily be adapted for different populations and this may have led researchers to use this intervention for complex target groups, which in turn may have resulted in a lower mean effect size. The CWD has contributed considerably to the development and innovation of prevention and treatment of depression in many target populations.

Psychological treatment of depression: a meta-analytic database of randomized studies

BACKGROUND

A large number of randomized controlled studies have clearly demonstrated that psychological interventions are effective in the treatment of depression. The number of studies in this area is increasing rapidly. In this paper, we present a database of controlled and comparative outcome studies on psychological treatments of depression, based on a series of meta-analyses published by our group. The database can be accessed freely through the Internet.

DESCRIPTION

We conducted a comprehensive literature search of the major bibliographical databases (Pubmed; Psycinfo; Embase; Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials) and we examined the references of 22 earlier meta-analyses of psychological treatment of depression. We included randomized studies in which the effects of a psychological therapy on adults with depression were compared to a control condition, another psychological intervention, or a combined treatment (psychological plus pharmacological). We conducted nine meta-analyses of subgroups of studies taken from this dataset. The 149 studies included in these 9 meta-analyses are included in the current database. In the 149 included studies, a total of 11,369 patients participated. In the database, we present selected characteristics of each study, including characteristics of the patients (the study population, recruitment method, definition of depression); characteristics of the experimental conditions and interventions (the experimental conditions, N per condition, format, number of sessions); and study characteristics (measurement times, measures used, attrition, type of analysis and country).

CONCLUSION

The data on the 149 included studies are presented in order to give other researchers access to the studies we collected, and to give background information about the meta-analyses we have published using this dataset. The number of studies examining the effects of psychological treatments of depression has increased considerably in the past decades, and this will continue in the future. The database we have presented in this paper can help to integrate the results of these studies in future meta-analyses and systematic reviews on psychological treatments for depression.