The effects of intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy on depressive symptoms, negative affect, and emotional repression in single treatment-resistant depression: A randomized controlled trial.

Psychotherapy, Vol 60(4), Dec 2023, 497-511; doi:10.1037/pst0000500Intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy (ISTDP) is theorized to reduce negative affect by challenging patients’ defense mechanisms so that they can experience and work through attachment-trauma-related emotions. While ISTDP has been shown to decrease depressive symptoms in single treatment-resistant depression (TRD), it has not been established whether negative affect and emotional repression are reduced, as theorized. Next to depressive symptoms, this retrospectively registered (https://osf.io/v46gy) randomized controlled trial, therefore, examined the effects of ISTDP on emotional repression and negative affect in adults with TRD. Eighty-six adults with major depressive disorder, who had not responded to at least one trial of antidepressants were randomized to 20 sessions of ISTDP (N = 43) or a waitlist control condition (N = 43). Mixed-effect models on the intention-to-treat sample showed that compared to the control condition, ISTDP resulted in significantly lower posttreatment levels of depressive symptoms (d = −1.73), emotional repression (d = −1.91), and negative affect (d = −1.45). Similarly, ISTDP resulted in significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms (d = −2.67), emotional repression (d = −2.69), and negative affect (d = −1.85) at the 3-month follow-up. These results support the evidence base of ISTDP by showing that it can decrease depressive symptoms, emotional repression, a...
Source: Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research