Short-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy for Depression: For Whom Does It Work? A Research Perspective

Short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP) is an empirically supported treatment for depression that is frequently applied in clinical practice. However, it remains largely unclear which patients can benefit specifically from STPP for depression, because studies often have small sample sizes and, therefore, lack statistical power to examine patient characteristics associated with differential treatment efficacy. Individual participant data (IPD) meta-analyses, which combine patient-level data from multiple studies, can help overcome this obstacle. Currently, the first IPD meta-analysis project regarding STPP for depression is being conducted. We describe this project, its progress, and first findings.