Self-criticism predicts differential response to treatment for major depression

✍ Scribed by Margarita B. Marshall; David C. Zuroff; Carolina McBride; R. Michael Bagby

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 164 KB
• Volume: 64
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9762
• DOI: 10.1002/jclp.20438

✦ Synopsis

The authors examined the relationship between self-criticism, dependency, and treatment outcome for 102 participants who met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) criteria for major depressive disorder. The participants were randomly assigned to receive either cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), interpersonal therapy (IPT), or pharmacotherapy with clinical management (PHT-CM) and completed the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (Blatt, D'Affilitti, & Quinlan, 1976), a measure of self-criticism and dependency, as part of a broader research protocol. Regression analyses indicated that among individuals in IPT, self-criticism predicted poorer treatment outcome based on depressive symptom severity measured using the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (Hamilton, 1960, 1967). In addition, there were trends toward dependency predicting worse treatment response in CBT and self-criticism predicting better treatment response in PHT-CM.