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Comment
. 2019 Jun;28(3):268-274.
doi: 10.1017/S2045796018000355. Epub 2018 Jul 30.

Is psychotherapy effective? A re-analysis of treatments for depression

T Munder  1 , C Flückiger  2 , F Leichsenring  3 , A A Abbass  4 , M J Hilsenroth  5 , P Luyten  6 , S Rabung  7 , C Steinert  3 , B E Wampold  8
Affiliations
Comment

Is psychotherapy effective? A re-analysis of treatments for depression

T Munder et al. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci. 2019 Jun.

Abstract

AimsThe aim of this study was to reanalyse the data from Cuijpers et al.'s (2018) meta-analysis, to examine Eysenck's claim that psychotherapy is not effective. Cuijpers et al., after correcting for bias, concluded that the effect of psychotherapy for depression was small (standardised mean difference, SMD, between 0.20 and 0.30), providing evidence that psychotherapy is not as effective as generally accepted.

Methods: The data for this study were the effect sizes included in Cuijpers et al. (2018). We removed outliers from the data set of effects, corrected for publication bias and segregated psychotherapy from other interventions. In our study, we considered wait-list (WL) controls as the most appropriate estimate of the natural history of depression without intervention.

Results: The SMD for all interventions and for psychotherapy compared to WL controls was approximately 0.70, a value consistent with past estimates of the effectiveness of psychotherapy. Psychotherapy was also more effective than care-as-usual (SMD = 0.31) and other control groups (SMD = 0.43).

Conclusions: The re-analysis reveals that psychotherapy for adult patients diagnosed with depression is effective.

Keywords: Depression; Eysenck; meta-analysis; natural history; psychotherapy effectiveness.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Effect sizes for psychological interventions for depression. Error bars represent standard errors. PT = psychotherapy. Overall is based on all effect sizes without outliers and corrected for publication bias (k = 146 contrasts with WL, k = 142 contrasts with CAU, k = 65 contrasts with ‘other’ controls). PT for adult depression only includes (individual or group) psychotherapy for adults with a diagnosis of depression (k = 30 contrasts with WL, k = 29 contrasts with CAU, k = 12 contrasts with ‘other control’).
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