Combined brief dynamic therapy and pharmacotherapy in the treatment of major depressive disorder: a pilot study

The relative efficacy of supplemental psychotherapy in the treatment of depression is still a matter of debate. Moreover, the superiority of brief dynamic therapy (BDT) over supportive psychotherapies is not well established. The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy of BDT added to medication with that of brief supportive psychotherapy (BSP) added to medication in the treatment of major depressive disorder.

A 12-month randomized clinical trial compared BDT (n = 18) with BSP (n = 17) combined with antidepressants in outpatients with major depressive disorder. Both psychotherapies were added during the first 6 months of the trial; all patients continued to be treated with only pharmacotherapy (paroxetine or citalopram) in the following 6-month continuation phase. Efficacy was assessed using the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D), the Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety and the Clinical Global Impression (CGI). The data analysis was conducted on two samples: the per-protocol (PP) sample and the observed-cases (OC) sample.

Thirty-two patients completed the study. Although at the end of the combined therapies (T2) no differences emerged between the two treatment approaches, the group of patients treated with BDT showed a further clinical improvement at the end of the study (T3): a significant reduction in symptomatology emerged on the HAM-D (PP sample: F = 75.154, p = 0.03; OC sample: F = 67.149, p = 0.022) and on the CGI total scores (PP sample: F = 78.527, p = 0.016; OC sample: F = 74.104, p = 0.007). The difference in remission rates on the HAM-D (75 vs. 12.5% at T3) is statistically significant favoring BDT.

BDT combined with antidepressants is preferable to supportive psychotherapy combined with medication in the treatment of outpatients with major depression.