Efficacy of couple therapy as a treatment for depression. Remarks on a Cochrane Meta-analysis

Journal title RIVISTA DI PSICOTERAPIA RELAZIONALE
Author/s Angelo Barbato, Barbara D’Avanzo
Publishing Year 2019 Issue 2019/49 Language Italian
Pages 15 P. 30-44 File size 223 KB
DOI 10.3280/PR2019-049002
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This paper presents and discuss the results and the implications of a recent Meta-analysis realized within the framework of the Cochrane Collaboration, aimed at providing a quantitative synthesis of the find-ings of the controlled studies confronting couple therapy with individ-ual psychotherapy as treatment for depression. Both treatments im-proved to some extent the depressive symptoms, without differences between treatments. However, couple therapy was more effective in improving the relationship quality in couples. The methodological lim-its and the low quality of studies prevent to draw firm conclusions from the results. The lack of differences between various therapeutic approaches for depression is confirmed, as well as the efficacy of couple therapy on relational variables. Research in this field must solve some basic prob-lems, such as the conflict of interests and the representativeness of study samples in relation to the clinical practice.

Keywords: Couple therapy, depression, controlled clinical studies, Meta-analysis.

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Angelo Barbato, Barbara D’Avanzo, L’efficacia della terapia di coppia nel trattamento della depressione. Considerazioni su una Metanalisi Cochrane in "RIVISTA DI PSICOTERAPIA RELAZIONALE " 49/2019, pp 30-44, DOI: 10.3280/PR2019-049002