Do Cognitive Therapy Skills Neutralize Lifetime Stress to Improve Treatment Outcomes in Recurrent Depression?

ABSTRACT: Cognitive therapy (CT) is an efficacious treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD), but not all patients respond. Past research suggests that stressful life events (SLE; e.g., childhood maltreatment, emotional and physical abuse, relationship discord, physical illness) sometimes reduce the efficacy of depression treatment, whereas greater acquisition and use of CT skills may improve patient outcomes. In a sample of 276 outpatient participants with recurrent MDD, we tested the hypothesis that patients with more SLE benefit more from CT skills in attaining response and remaining free of relapse/recurrence. Patients with more pretreatment SLE did not develop weaker CT skills, on average, but were significantly less likely to respond to CT. However, SLE predicted non-response only for pati

SUBMITTER: Vittengl JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7431681 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature