Prescribing therapy for depression: the role of learned resourcefulness, a failure to replicate

Abstract

Work in 1985 by Simons, Lustman, Wetzel, and Murphy showed that a patient's score on Rosenbaum's self-control scale predicted differential response to treatments for depression, with a high score predicting a good outcome with talking therapy and a low score a good outcome with drug therapy. This study of 37 patients did not replicate those findings. Using the same paradigm, we predicted response correctly 7 times and incorrectly 16 times, a clear failure. A valid method for choosing the best treatment for a patient with major depression remains to be found.