Efficacy of experiential dynamic therapy for psychiatric conditions: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Abstract

Experiential dynamic therapy (EDT) is a subgroup of short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP) that emphasizes patients' in-session affective processing. To evaluate the efficacy of EDT for psychiatric conditions, we conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Twenty-eight studies published between 1978 and 2014 were included, encompassing 1,782 adult patients with mood, anxiety, personality, or mixed disorders. Across targeted outcome domains, medium-size between-groups effects (Cohen's ds ranging from 0.39 to 0.65) favored EDT over inactive controls at posttreatment and in symptom measures at follow-up. We found no differences between EDT and active treatments (e.g., medication, cognitive-behavioral therapy, manualized supportive therapy) at posttreatment, but EDT outperformed supportive therapy at follow-up (d = 0.75). In terms of within-group effect sizes, EDT was associated with large improvements in general psychiatric symptoms (d = 1.11), depression (d = 1.33), and anxiety (d = 1.09) and with small to moderate gains in the areas of interpersonal problems (d = 0.55) and global functioning (d = 0.86). Small but significant effects suggested continued improvement between posttreatment and follow-up. Heterogeneity in pre-post effects was explored in subgroup analyses, which indicated that EDT might be most effective in depressive disorders and that individual EDT had larger effects compared with group treatment. In addition, EDT performed better in higher quality studies. We conclude that EDT is a promising treatment for psychiatric conditions in adults. Further high-quality studies evaluating contemporary versions of EDT in specific psychiatric conditions are warranted.

The Predictive Value of the NEO-FFI Items: Parsing the Nature of Social Anhedonia Using the Revised Social Anhedonia Scale and the ACIPS

“…Treatment implications may differ for socially anhedonic individuals depending on the personality traits that are most salient. Individuals with social anhedonia, operationally defined by low ACIPS scores, may benefit from cognitive-behavioral treatments that emphasize social skills training ( Granholm et al, 2014 ) and/or experiential therapy ( Osimo, 2003 ; Lilliengren et al, 2016 ). Individuals with social anhedonia, operationally defined by high RSAS scores, may benefit most from treatments that emphasize behavioral activation training ( Dimidjian et al, 2011 ; Hershenberg et al, 2015 ), and/or motivational interviewing ( Miller and Rollnick, 2013 ; Romano and Peters, 2016 ).…”

Latent trajectories of change for clients at a psychodynamic training clinic

“…Evidence for the efficacy of approaches within the psychoanalytic tradition is accumulating (e.g., Fonagy, ; Leichsenring, Kruse & Rabung, ; Lilliengren, Johansson, Lindqvist, Mechler, & Anderson, ; Shedler, ; Yakeley, ). Findings from RCTs document that psychoanalytic approaches work for most people on average for a variety of presenting concerns, including depression, anxiety, somatic problems, substance‐related disorders, and personality disorders (Fonagy, ; Leichsenring et al, ; Lilliengren et al, ; Shedler, ; Yakeley, ). Yet, the notion that treatment “work(s) for most people on average” distinguishes RCTs from person‐centered analyses that seek to discern “subgroups of individuals who respond very well to treatment and subgroups who do not respond well” (Frankfurt et al, , p. 623).…”

Intensive Short‐Term Dynamic Psychotherapy for generalized anxiety disorder: A pilot effectiveness and process‐outcome study

“…In the present study, we aim to evaluate the clinical‐ and cost‐effectiveness of Intensive Short‐Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP; Davanloo, , ; Abbass, ) for patients with GAD. ISTDP is an emotion‐focused, experiential psychodynamic treatment model with a growing evidence base (Abbass, Town, & Driessen, ; Lilliengren, Johansson, Lindqvist, Mechler, & Andersson, ; Town & Driessen, ). Previous studies have indicated that ISTDP may be effective in complex psychiatric conditions, such as personality disorders (e.g., Abbass, Sheldon, Gyra, & Kalpin, ; Solbakken & Abbass, ), treatment resistant depression (Town, Abbass, Stride, & Bernier, ) and medically unexplained symptoms (Abbass et al, ; Chavooshi, Mohammadkhani, & Dolatshahee, ), all of which overlap considerably with GAD.…”