BACKGROUND Most primary care patients who experience depression state that they would prefer psychotherapy over antidepressant medications. However, when referrals for psychotherapy are made, only 20% ever follow up, and of these, half drop out of treatment. This suggests that there are substantial barriers to accessing psychotherapy. PURPOSE The aim of this study was to investigate perceived...

As research on the effectiveness of psychotherapy has flourished over the past two decades, scholars have increasingly borrowed various research strategies, including the placebo concept, from medicine. The recent movement toward evidence-based treatment in mental health has also highlighted psychological placebos as control conditions against which to define empirically supported psychotherapi...

How does the human brain absorb information and turn it into skills of its own in psychotherapy? In an attempt to answer this question, the authors will review the intricacies of processing channels in psychotherapy and propose the term transprocessing (as in transduction and processing combined) for the underlying mechanisms. Through transprocessing the brain processes multimodal memories and ...

OBJECTIVE The authors examined three yearlong outpatient treatments for borderline personality disorder: dialectical behavior therapy, transference-focused psychotherapy, and a dynamic supportive treatment. METHOD Ninety patients who were diagnosed with borderline personality disorder were randomly assigned to transference-focused psychotherapy, dialectical behavior therapy, or supportive tre...

The most prevalent mental disorders, anxiety and depression, are commonly associated with structural and functional changes in the fronto-limbic brain areas. The clinical trials investigating patients with affective disorders showed different outcome to different treatments such as psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy. It is, however, still unexplored how these interventions approach affect the fun...

BACKGROUND Negative symptoms of schizophrenia have a severe impact on functional outcomes and treatment options are limited. Arts therapies are currently recommended but more evidence is required. AIMS To assess body psychotherapy as a treatment for negative symptoms compared with an active control (trial registration: ISRCTN84216587). METHOD Schizophrenia out-patients were randomised into ...

BACKGROUND The diagnosis of infertility and concurrent medical treatment may inflict an array of negative emotional symptoms in infertile persons. Evidence for the positive effects of psychotherapy on negative affect and also possible influence on conception rates has been discussed in several studies. METHOD Meta-analyses were conducted in order to evaluate the efficacy of group and individu...

BACKGROUND The relative efficacy of psychotherapy and combined therapy in the treatment of depression is still a matter of debate. AIMS To investigate whether combined therapy has advantages over psychotherapy alone. METHOD A 6-month randomised clinical trial compared Short Psychodynamic Supportive Psychotherapy (n=106) with combined therapy (n=85) in ambulatory patients with mild or modera...

BACKGROUND The treatment recommendations for depressed patients by the American Psychiatric Association encourage a focus on the patient's preferences. The focus of this study was the preference of depressed inpatients for the type of psychotherapy. METHODS Twenty-nine subjects of both sexes who were hospitalized with a major depressive episode were interviewed at 5-day intervals with the sam...

In the text, as well as on the title-page, of this book Psychotherapy is thus defined: "Treatment that attempts to improve the condition of a human being by means of influences that are brought to bear upon his mind (psyche)." This definition is characteristic of the book or, as one had better say, of the wisdom and common sense of its author. Dr. Barker emphasizes the necessity of a full work-...