The overall aim of this research is to develop a time-limited group psychotherapy for the treatment of major depression. While there are currently several well-validated psychosocial treatments for depression, these treatments have significant limitations in terms of transportability, cost, and efficacy. In order to address these issues, group treatments have been proposed as cost-effective alternatives to individual psychotherapies. However, recent reviews of the literature suggest that current empirically-validated group treatments provide only limited improvement over individual treatment. The goal of this research is to develop a cost-effective group treatment for depression. The proposed integrated therapy program includes group, individual and family treatment (GIFT) within a structured, time-limited, coping-based model. The current proposal is designed to develop the GIFT treatment program for depression. The goal of this research will first be to, a) develop a integrative group therapy (GIFT) treatment program for depressed patients; b) develop and implement a therapist training program; c) develop and evaluate the reliability and validity of competence and adherence rating scales; and d) to conduct a pilot trial investigating the short-term efficacy of the GIFT program versus Placebo. This pilot work will lay the groundwork for a larger treatment outcome study for depressed patients evaluating this treatment program.
| Battle, Cynthia L; Uebelacker, Lisa; Friedman, Michael A et al. (2010) Treatment goals of depressed outpatients: a qualitative investigation of goals identified by participants in a depression treatment trial. J Psychiatr Pract 16:425-30 |
| Miller, I W; Ryan, C E; Keitner, G I et al. (2000) Why fix what isn't broken? A rejoinder to Ridenour, Daley, & Reich. Fam Process 39:381-4 |
