Cognitive Therapy for Unipolar Depression: Efficacy of a Dilemma-Focused Intervention

Major Depressive Disorder Clinical Trial

Official title: Cognitive Therapy for Unipolar Depression: Efficacy of a Dilemma-Focused Intervention

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy of a brief psychological intervention focused on the personal dilemmas identified for each depressive patient. For that, this intervention is combined to group cognitive therapy (an already proven efficacious format) and compared to cognitive individual therapy.

Clinical Trial Description

Depression is one of the more severe and serious health problems because of its morbidity, disabling effects and for its societal and economic burden. Despite the variety of existing pharmacological and psychological treatments most of the cases evolve with only partial remission, relapse and recurrence.

Cognitive models made a significant contribution in the understanding of unipolar depression and its psychological treatment. Even though, success is only partial and many authors affirm the need to improve those models and also the treatment programs derived from them. One of the issues that requires further elaboration is the difficulty these patients experience in responding to treatment and in maintaining therapeutic gains across time without relapse or recurrence.

Our research group has been working in the notion of cognitive conflict viewed as personal dilemma according to personal construct theory. The investigators use a novel method for identifying those conflicts using the repertory grid technique. Preliminary results with depressive patients show that more than 90% of them have one or more of those conflicts. This fact might explain the blockage and the difficult progress of these patients, especially the more severe and/or chronic. These results justify the need for specific interventions focused in the resolution of these internal conflicts.

This study aims to empirically test the hypothesis that an intervention focused on the dilemma(s) specifically detected for each patient will contribute to enhance the efficacy of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for depression. A therapy manual for this approach will be tested using a randomized clinical trial by comparing the outcome of two treatment conditions: a CBT treatment package and another package combining cognitive-behavioral and dilemma-focused interventions. The investigators expect that this combined package will increase the efficacy of CBT, one of the more prestigious therapies for depression, this resulting in a significant contribution for its treatment. ;

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Single Blind (Investigator), Primary Purpose: Treatment

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Depression
• Depressive Disorder
• Depressive Disorder, Major
• Disease
• Dysthymic Disorder
• Major Depressive Disorder

• NCT number: NCT01542957
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: University of Barcelona
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: November 2011
• Completion date: May 2015