| Abstract: | Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 55(3) of Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (see record 2008-10745-001). The data presented in Table 2 were incorrect because a row and a column were inadvertently omitted. The corrected Table 2 appears in the erratum.] This study used meta-analysis to study the clinical significance of psychotherapy for symptoms of unipolar depression. The following questions were addressed: How similar is the posttherapy adjustment of depressed adults to that of nondepressed adults? Is this adjustment maintained at follow-up? What dimensions of treatment, therapists, or design are associated with clinical significance? Using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), we calculated composite BDI norms from 28 published studies. Sixty effect sizes (from 31 outcome studies utilizing the BDI) were calculated. The results indicated that psychotherapy produces outcomes that have moderate clinical significance and that are well-maintained at follow-up, that individual therapy is associated with greater clinical significance than group treatment, and that type of therapy is not related to improvement. Alternative approaches for operationalizing clinical significance as the return of individuals to normal levels of functioning are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
