Motivation to Seek Psychotherapy in Patients With Recurrent Depressive Disorder

Abstract

Fifty-five hospital-treated patients with the ICD-10 diagnosis of recurrent depressive episode(s) were classified according to the Newcastle Depressive Diagnostic Scale as having either psychogenic (n = 25) or endogenous (n = 30) depression and interviewed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview and the Questionnaire for Assessment of Motivation to Seek Psychotherapy. The two groups were found to differ significantly from one another in two Motivation to Seek Psychotherapy subscales ("layman's etiology" and "general expectations from therapy"). The motivation to seek psychotherapy was greater in patients with psychogenic depression than in patients with endogenous depression. Nonetheless, psychotherapy is indispensable in treating endogenous depression, especially for patients under situational stress or at risk of suicide.

The Validity of the ICD-10 Classification of Recurrent Affective Disorders: Do Endogenous and Psychogenic Depressions Form a Homogeneous Diagnostic Group?

“…The finding that patients with endogenous depression are less motivated to seek psychotherapy than patients with psychogenic depression [74] is in accord with results showing that the former respond more poorly to psychotherapy [75,76].…”

Strategies for Reducing Patient-Initiated Premature Termination of Psychotherapy

“…44 Enhanced motivation should not only help patients remain engaged in treatment, but also increase the amount of benefit gained from treatment. 30,33,45 Interestingly, although motivation is recognized as having considerable influence on the success of psychotherapy, there has been little attention paid to developing techniques by which patients' motivation for therapy may be enhanced. In the field of substance abuse and eating disorders, however, motivation enhancement is an integral component of treatment and has been found to increase patients' participation in treatment and also to improve outcomes.…”