CLINICAL DEPRESSION - COMPARATIVE EFFICACY OF OUTPATIENT TREATMENTS

178 moderately clinically depressed clients were given 10 wks of psychotherapy, behavior therapy, drug therapy, or relaxation therapy (treatment control condition). Tests administered included the Depression Adjective Check List, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. 55 normal Ss were evaluated for comparison purposes but were not part of the data analyses. In addition to showing differential treatment drop-out rates, results showed behavior therapy to be superior on 9 of 10 measures at the end of treatment and marginally superior at the 3-mo follow-up. Psychotherapy performed most poorly on most outcome measures at both evaluation periods, and there were no significant differences between drug therapy and relaxation therapy on any outcome measure. Neither therapist experience nor client cluster type interacted with treatment. There was an overall significant difference between high and low treatment responders, but discriminant function classification predicted treatment response correctly in only 68% of the cases. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1979 American Psychological Association.