TA Treatment of Depression: A Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design Study - ‘Deborah’

Abstract

This study is the third of a series of seven, and belongs to the second Italian systematic replication of findings from two previous series (Widdowson 2012a(Widdowson , 2012b(Widdowson , 2012c(Widdowson , 2013Benelli, 2016aBenelli, , 2016bBenelli, , 2016c) that investigated the effectiveness of a manualised transactional analysis treatment for depression through Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design (HSCED). Major Depression and Subthreshold Depression are often in comorbidity with Anxiety disorders in childhood and adolescence and represent a risk factor for ongoing mental health problems in adulthood. The therapist was a white Italian woman with 15 years of clinical experience and the client, Deborah, was a 15-year old white Italian female adoloscent who attended sixteen sessions of transactional analysis psychotherapy. The conclusion of the judges was that this was a good-outcome case: the depressive and anxious symptomatology clinically and reliably improved over the course of the therapy and these improvements were maintained throughout the duration of the follow-up intervals. Furthermore, the client reported significant change in her post-treatment interview and these changes were directly attributed to the therapy. In this case study, the transactional analysis manualised treatment for depression in adulthood has demonstrated its effectiveness also in treating depressive and anxiety symptoms in adolescence.

TA Treatment of Depression: A Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design Study - 'Beatrice'

“…HSCED analysis was conducted according to Elliott (2002), and Elliott et al (2009), as described in previous publications of this series (eg., Benelli, 2017c).…”

“…This Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design (HSCED) is the sixth of a series of seven, and belongs to an Italian systematic replication of findings from previous case series (Widdowson 2012a(Widdowson , 2012b(Widdowson , 2012c(Widdowson , 2013(Widdowson , 2014Benelli, 2016aBenelli, , 2016bBenelli, , 2016cBenelli, , 2017aBenelli, , 2017bBenelli, , 2017c and is conducted under the auspices of the project 'Transactional Analysis meets Academic Research in order to become an Empirically Supported Treatment: an Italian two-year plan for publishing evidence of Transactional Analysis efficacy and effectiveness into worldwide recognized scientific journals', funded by the European Association for Transactional Analysis (EATA). Previous publications have widely described the rationale for supporting by HSCED the accumulation of evidences of efficacy and effectiveness for those models of psychotherapy that are emerging or marginalized (Benelli, De Carlo, Biffi & McLeod, 2015) and specifically how this is important for recognition of TA and inclusion within the acknowledged treatments for common mental disorders (i.e., depression, anxiety and personality disorders) (Widdowson 2012a(Widdowson , 2012b(Widdowson , 2012c(Widdowson , 2013(Widdowson , 2014Benelli, 2016aBenelli, , 2016bBenelli, , 2016cBenelli, , 2017aBenelli, , 2017bBenelli, , 2017c.…”

TA Treatment of Depression: A Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design Study - 'Giorgio'

“…This Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design (HSCED) is the fourth of a series of seven, and belongs to an Italian systematic replication of findings from previous case series (Widdowson 2012a(Widdowson , 2012b(Widdowson , 2012c(Widdowson , 2013(Widdowson , 2014Benelli, 2016aBenelli, , 2016bBenelli, , 2016cBenelli, , 2017aBenelli, , 2017bBenelli, , 2017c and is conducted under the auspices of the project 'Transactional Analysis meets Academic Research in order to become an Empirically Supported Treatment: an Italian two-year plan for publishing evidence of Transactional Analysis efficacy and effectiveness into worldwide recognized scientific journals', funded by the European Association for Transactional Analysis (EATA). Previous publications have widely described the rationale for supporting by HSCED the accumulation of evidences of efficacy and effectiveness for those models of psychotherapy that are emerging or marginalized (Benelli, De Carlo, Biffi & McLeod, 2015) and specifically how this is important for recognition of TA and inclusion within the acknowledged treatments for common mental disorders (i.e., depression, anxiety and personality disorders) (Widdowson 2012a(Widdowson , 2012b(Widdowson , 2012c(Widdowson , 2013(Widdowson , 2014Benelli, 2016aBenelli, , 2016bBenelli, , 2016cBenelli, , 2017aBenelli, , 2017bBenelli, , 2017c.…”

Intensive Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy (ITAP): A case series study

“…In this regard, the specific symptomatology of the patient (e.g. depression or anxiety) is only relatively important for ITAP, whereas the intervention is mainly tailored to the patient's resources and on his/ her level of personality functioning (Benelli, 2018). In other words, the therapist applies pressure and support commensurately depending on the Ego strength, a psychodynamic concept referring to a set of capacities including individual resilience, integrate identity, personal resources, ability to maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships and self-esteem (Freud, 1923;Lake, 1985).…”

“…Brief psychodynamic therapies have been consistently affirmed as evidence-based treatments (for meta-analyses of clinical studies, see Abbass, 2015;Driessen et al, 2010). Furthermore, while it is in an initial phase of validation, TA effects have also been documented in several single-case studies (Benelli et al, 2017;Widdowson, 2012aWiddowson, , 2012bWiddowson, , 2013. This evidence suggests that ITAP therapy may be effective.…”