Comparing Treatment Efficacy of Cognitive-Behavior Therapy and Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy in High-Quality Studies: A Systematic Review and Effect Size Approach

Results: Eleven publications (seven individual studies) respected the inclusion criteria. The results reveal that both CBT and STDP are efficacious treatments. In anxiety disorders, CBT shows a small to moderate advantage over STDP in primary symptoms from pretreatment to post treatment and a negligible to moderate advantage from pretreatment to follow-up. Results are mixed in personality disorders. In depressive disorders, CBT shows a negligible to small advantage from pretreatment to post treatment in primary symptoms, but STDP shows a small advantage from pretreatment to follow-up. In bulimia nervosa, CBT shows a small advantage in primary symptoms from pretreatment to post treatment. Differences are also observed in secondary symptoms for each disorder. Post hoc analyses revealed that STDP shows a negligible to small advantage over CBT from post treatment to follow-up.