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  • Title: Is interpersonal counselling (IPC) sufficient treatment for depression in primary care patients? A pilot study comparing IPC and interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT).
    Author: Kontunen J, Timonen M, Muotka J, Liukkonen T.
    Journal: J Affect Disord; 2016 Jan 01; 189():89-93. PubMed ID: 26432031.
    Abstract:
    BACKGROUND: Psychotherapeutic treatment is underused in primary care, where even short-term psychotherapy can be perceived as too lengthy and labour-intensive. We tested here for the first time the preliminary efficacy of seven sessions of interpersonal counselling (IPC) by comparison with sixteen sessions of interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) in regular clinical settings. METHODS: Patients seeking treatment for the first time who met the DSM-IV criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD, mild/moderate) were randomized to either IPC (n=20) or IPT (n=20). The efficacy of the treatments was assessed using the 34-item Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation (CORE-OM) scale and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scale. RESULTS: 90% of the patients completed all the treatment sessions. IPC delivered by psychiatric nurses in primary care proved equally as effective as IPT delivered by psychotherapists/psychologists in secondary care. The pre-treatment to 12-month follow-up within-group effect sizes were large: 1.52 (CORE-OM) and 1.41 (BDI) in the IPC group and 1.58 (CORE-OM) and 1.40 (BDI) in the IPT group. At the 12-month follow-up 59% of the patients in the IPC group and 63% in the IPT group were classified as recovered on the CORE-OM scale, with corresponding remission rates of 61% for both groups on the BDI scale. LIMITATIONS: The small sample size limited the power to detect differences between the groups and the naturalistic settings may have confounded the results. CONCLUSIONS: This clinical trial suggests that IPC is an appropriate and even sufficient first-phase intervention for handling previously untreated mild to moderate depression in primary health care.
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