Wirksamkeit stationärer psychodynamischer Psychotherapie bei Depressionen

Background The effectiveness of psychodynamic psychotherapy on clinical outcome variables, such as depressive symptom load is proven; however, there is still a lack of studies documenting the effectiveness of psychodynamic clinical inpatient treatment on psychodynamically relevant outcome measures. Method Within a naturalistic multicenter study "Inpatient psychodynamic oriented psychotherapy of depressive disorders (STOP-D)" the effectiveness of psychodynamic inpatient psychotherapy on the adaptivity of defence organization (inventory of personality organization, IPO) and the personality structural resources to handle conflicts (Heidelberg restructuring scale, HUS) was analyzed. Female inpatients with depressive symptoms from 15 psychosomatic hospital units were included in the study. The mean treatment duration was 61.8 days. Data acquisition was implemented at admission (T1;n & x202f;= 474), discharge (T2;n & x202f;= 432) and a 6-month follow-up after discharge (T3;n & x202f;= 286). Results There are indications of the effectiveness on the psychodynamically relevant outcome variables investigated. In addition to the known clear improvement of clinical symptom load, low-grade to high-grade effect sizes on psychodynamic core variables also became apparent. The alterations remained stable at the catamnesis. Conclusion The effectiveness of psychodynamic inpatient psychotherapy on the typical depressive symptom load seems to be associated with a long-lasting increase of structural resources of personality and might facilitate a more adaptive coping of imminent conflicts and stresses even after discharge