Psychotherapy of depression [Psychotherapie der Depression]

There are now several well evaluated (psychological) interventions available to treat depressive disorders. A large number of controlled randomized trials have been conducted to establish scientific evidence for treatments' short- and long-term outcome. If the patient meets the diagnostic criteria for depression, a decision has to be made about referral to a psychiatrist or a psychotherapist for specialized treatment. Depending on severity of symptomatology (suicidality) as well as the range of individual problems, supportive counselling or specific psychotherapy is indicated. Specific psychotherapies for depression are in particular cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), to a less extent short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP) and client centred psychotherapy (CCPT). For these specific psychotherapies, empirical evidence is available about short-term (successful symptom reduction) and long-term (relapse prevention) outcome as monotherapy or in combination with antidepressive medication. Based on available outcome studies, 14 up-to-date treatment recommendations conclude this presentation. © 2008 Springer Medizin Verlag.