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Chronic depression is more treatable with specific psychotherapy
Almost ten percent of people worldwide suffer from depression and anxiety. In some cases, the treatment of mental illness is particularly difficult. A study has now shown that chronic depression is more treatable with specific psychotherapy.

Every tenth person suffers from depression
Nearly one in ten people worldwide suffer from depression or anxiety. In Germany alone, according to experts, over six million people are affected within one year. The treatment of mental illness is traditionally with drugs (antidepressants) and psychotherapy. Research has now shown that a specific psychotherapy for the treatment of chronic depression, in which stressful relationship experiences are taken into account, is superior to unspecific supportive psychotherapy.

A new study has shown that specific psychotherapy is better suited for treating chronic depression than non-specific supportive therapy. (Image: DREIDREIEINS photo / fotolia.com)

Chronic depression is considered difficult to treat
Researchers at the University Hospital Freiburg have discovered this in cooperation with the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) as well as six other German universities.

The results of the study have now been published in the journal "JAMA Psychiatry".

According to a statement from the University of Freiburg, chronic depression is considered difficult to treat. Accordingly, the majority of patients do not respond to multiple psychotherapeutic and drug therapy attempts.

"Therefore, chronic depression leads to a significant burden of disease, which is characterized mainly by a long-lasting restriction of performance and quality of life," said Prof. Dr. med. Elisabeth Schramm from the University Hospital Freiburg, who together with Prof. Dr. med. Dr. Martin Härter, PD Dr. Levente Kriston and Ramona Meister from UKE-side has done.

Specific and structured psychotherapy developed
According to the Communication, a specific and structured psychotherapy for the treatment of chronic depression, the "Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy" (CBASP), was developed for the first time in recent years..

In this treatment developed in the United States, the therapists focus intensively on the stressful relationship experiences reported by many chronically depressed patients.

"During therapy, patients learn to recognize the connection between the current problems with previous hurtful experiences and to make their interpersonal relationships more successful in everyday life," explained UKE professor Härter.

Improved performance and quality of life
In the current study, scientists compared the effectiveness of CBASP with supportive psychotherapy, a so-called supportive therapy.

To reach their results, they treated at a total of 268 patients with early onset chronic depression at eight university centers (Lübeck, Hamburg, Heidelberg, Tübingen, Bonn, Marburg, Mannheim, Freiburg).

Patients were randomly assigned to one of the two treatments. The outpatient individual therapy lasted one year, comprised 32 sessions and was performed without concomitant medication.

According to the researchers, both treatments resulted in a marked improvement for the patients, which showed both a reduction in depressive symptoms and an improved overall performance and quality of life.

However, more patients responded to treatment with CBASP at the end of treatment. Even a complete improvement in depressive symptoms was achieved significantly more often under CBASP.

Treatment success could be increased
In the opinion of the scientists, this is a considerable success in view of the severity and tenacity of the disease.

"The most important result of this study is, in our view, that even difficult to treat chronically depressed patients can be helped with sole disorder-specific psychotherapy if this psychotherapy is offered over a longer period of time", says Prof. Schramm.

The study was the first to test the efficacy of the newly developed method compared to non-specific psychotherapy.

"It may be possible to increase the success of treatment by a combination of psychotherapy and antidepressant medication in the future, this would have to be investigated in follow-up studies," added Prof. Härter. (Ad)