BACKGROUND Depressive disorders place a significant disease burden on individuals as well as on societies. Several web-based interventions for depression have shown to be effective in reducing depressive symptoms. However, it is not known whether web-based interventions, when used as adjunctive treatment tools to regular psychotherapy, have an additional effect compared to regular psychotherapy...

An open prospective controlled study was designed to compare the efficacy of short-term dynamic group psychotherapy with the standard treatment in patients with depressive symptoms attended in the primary care setting. A total of 115 patients with depressive symptoms were assigned to receive psychotherapy (75 min) over 9 months (37 to 39 sessions) (n = 70) or the standard care (n = 45). Outcome...

Clients who had completed psychotherapy were interviewed about the significant experiences and moments they recalled within their sessions. These interviews were analyzed using grounded theory, creating a hierarchy of categories that represent what clients find important in therapy. From the hermeneutic analysis of the content of these categories, a list of principles was constructed to guide t...

BACKGROUND Qualitative research has provided knowledge about the subjective experiences of therapists and patients regarding the psychotherapy process and its results. Only few studies have attempted to integrate both perspectives, considering the influence of a patient's characteristics and diagnosis in the construction of this experience. AIM To identify aspects of psychotherapy that contri...

BACKGROUND Most primary care patients who experience depression state that they would prefer psychotherapy over antidepressant medications. However, when referrals for psychotherapy are made, only 20% ever follow up, and of these, half drop out of treatment. This suggests that there are substantial barriers to accessing psychotherapy. PURPOSE The aim of this study was to investigate perceived...

As research on the effectiveness of psychotherapy has flourished over the past two decades, scholars have increasingly borrowed various research strategies, including the placebo concept, from medicine. The recent movement toward evidence-based treatment in mental health has also highlighted psychological placebos as control conditions against which to define empirically supported psychotherapi...

OBJECTIVE The authors examined three yearlong outpatient treatments for borderline personality disorder: dialectical behavior therapy, transference-focused psychotherapy, and a dynamic supportive treatment. METHOD Ninety patients who were diagnosed with borderline personality disorder were randomly assigned to transference-focused psychotherapy, dialectical behavior therapy, or supportive tre...

The most prevalent mental disorders, anxiety and depression, are commonly associated with structural and functional changes in the fronto-limbic brain areas. The clinical trials investigating patients with affective disorders showed different outcome to different treatments such as psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy. It is, however, still unexplored how these interventions approach affect the fun...

BACKGROUND Negative symptoms of schizophrenia have a severe impact on functional outcomes and treatment options are limited. Arts therapies are currently recommended but more evidence is required. AIMS To assess body psychotherapy as a treatment for negative symptoms compared with an active control (trial registration: ISRCTN84216587). METHOD Schizophrenia out-patients were randomised into ...