Depression-Focused Psychotherapies: Historical Overview

Depression-Focused Psychotherapies: Historical Overview

The depression-focused psychotherapies grew out of a series of developments in the mental health field between the late 1950s and early 1980s. First, there was the slowly growing perception that more traditional psychodynamic approaches to psychotherapy were not well suited for the treatment of depression. For example, the reflective and nondirective methods commonly used in psychodynamic psychotherapy were viewed as sometimes counterproductive in work with more severely depressed patients, who seemed to benefit from more active therapeutic support, structure, and guidance. This was particularly a concern vis-a-vis the more predictable and rapid effects observed during acute-phase antidepressant pharmacotherapy, which were convincingly established by the mid-1960s.

Second, whether or not these perceptions were accurate was somewhat moot because, unlike pharmacotherapists, the opinion leaders of the traditionally oriented psychotherapies were often reluctant or unwilling to subject their work to the empirical scrutiny of randomized controlled clinical trials. This position, however understandable in historical context, ultimately served to undermine the power base of psychodynamic psychotherapy in terms of allocation of research funds and publication in peer-reviewed general psychiatry journals (i.e., the "currency" of status within academic departments and medical schools). Moreover, psychiatry's at times tenuous relationship with the other branches of clinical medicine was not enhanced by such a nonempirical stance. The issue of treatment efficacy ultimately involved medicolegal concerns, as illustrated by the controversial case of Osheroff v. Chestnut Lodge.

Depression-Focused Psychotherapies Introduction Historical Overview Shared Features of Depression-Focused Psychotherapies Interpersonal Psychotherapy Behavior Therapy Cognitive Therapy Treatment Efficacy

• Interpersonal Psychotherapy
• Behavior Therapy
• Cognitive Therapy