Symptom Change during Waitlist for Medicated and Nonmedicated Patients with Chronic Depression.
Psychother Psychosom
; 92(5): 340-345, 2023.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37708855
INTRODUCTION: Patients seeking psychotherapy often spend time on waitlist (WL), the effect of which is largely unknown. WL patients may forego alternative non-psychotherapeutic assistance and thus do more poorly than had they not been placed on a WL. The course of symptoms might also be influenced by use of antidepressant medication (ADM), an issue that remains unexplored in the literature. OBJECTIVE: In a naturalistic setting, WL symptom change before inpatient psychotherapy (mean weeks of waiting = 22.6) was assessed in a sample (N = 313) of chronically depressed patients. METHODS: Using the Beck Depression Inventory-II, patients' symptoms were tracked at assessment, when admitted to treatment (i.e., after WL), at posttreatment and 1-year follow-up. Multilevel growth curve analysis was used to examine waitlist change for the whole sample as well as for ADM users and nonmedicated patients. RESULTS: Symptoms were reduced significantly from assessment to admittance (Cohen's d = 0.47). Symptoms reduced less for ADM users (d = 0.39) than for nonmedicated patients (d = 0.65). CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that chronically depressed patients experience a decrease in symptoms during WL, quite likely due to treatment expectations. We discuss whether less symptom improvement for ADM users could be attributed to iatrogenic comorbidity and a higher degree of demoralization in this group.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Psicoterapia
/
Depresión
Tipo de estudio:
Diagnostic_studies
Límite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Psychother Psychosom
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Noruega
Pais de publicación:
Suiza