Supportive-Expressive and Emotion-Focused Treatment for Depression
ConditionMajor Depressive Disorder
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age18-65
SponsorUniversity of Haifa
About this trial
This study will explore the mechanisms of change that are activated when individuals receive a treatment that targets their weakness and the mechanisms activated when the treatment capitalize on their strength. Patients will be assigned to one of two types of psychotherapies in treating people with a major depression disorder, expressive-supportive vs. emotion-focused treatment. Their ability to benefit from treatment based on their pre-treatment levels of insight and emotional processing will be examined. This is a four-month protocol, with a 2 year follow up period.
Eligibility criteria
This trial does not accept healthy volunteersQualifiers
Meeting major depressive disorder diagnostic criteria using the structured clinical interviews for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 and scoring more than 14 on the 17-item Hamilton rating scale for depression at two evaluations (one week apart) (Hamilton, 1967).
If on medication, patients' dosage must be stable for at least three months prior to entering the study, and they must be willing to maintain stable dosage for the duration of treatment
Age between 18 and 65
Hebrew language fluency
Disqualifiers
Current risk of suicide or self-harm
current substance abuse disorders
current or past schizophrenia or psychosis, bipolar disorder, or severe eating disorder requiring medical monitoring
history of organic mental disease
Trial design
Design model
Parallel
Treatments tested in this trial
Supportive-expressive treatment
BehavioralSixteen weeks of a time-limited psychodynamic therapy adapted for depression that includes the use of expressive techniques, such as interpretation, confrontation, clarification and the use of supportive techniques, such as affirmation and empathic validation. This treatment postulates insight as its core mechanism of change.
Emotions-Focused treatment
BehavioralSixteen weeks of a brief experiential therapy for depression that combine client-centered relational elements (unconditional positive regard, congruence, and empathy) with marker-guided experiential interventions designed to facilitate and deepen emotional processing and emotion regulation.
Treatment groups
124 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groupsGroup A: Supportive-ExpressiveExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Group B: Emotion-FocusedExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
1
Weekly change in Hamilton rating scale for depression (HRSD)
A 17-item clinically administered measure assessing the severity of depression. Higher scores indicate worse outcome.
Time frame
up to 16 weeks.Secondary outcomes
1
Weekly change in Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)
A 21-item, self-rated scale that evaluates key symptoms of depression. Higher scores indicate worse outcome.
Time frame
up to 16 weeks2
Weekly change in Outcome Questionnaire (OQ)
A 30 items self-report measure designed to assess patient therapy outcomes on three primary dimensions: (a) subjective discomfort, (b) interpersonal relationships, and (c) social role performance. Higher scores indicate worse outcome.
Time frame
up to 16 weeks3
Trajectories of change in Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP-32)
A 32-item self-report measure designed to assess interpersonal problems. Each item is rated in terms of how distressing the problem is for the individual on a scale ranging from 0 (not at all) to 4 (extremely). Higher scores indicate worse outcome.
Time frame
At intake and 6 times during the treatment (weeks 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 16)4
trajectories of change in Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction- Short Version (Q-LES-Q)
Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Scale. Higher scores indicate better outcome.
Time frame
At intake and 6 times during the treatment (weeks 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 16)Sponsors and contacts
Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.
University of Haifa
Lead sponsor
Israel Science Foundation
Collaborator
Source ClinicalTrials.gov