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Logo of bmcpsycBioMed Centralsearchsubmit a manuscriptregisterthis articleBMC Psychiatry
 
BMC Psychiatry. 2011; 11: 134.
Published online 2011 August 17. doi:  10.1186/1471-244X-11-134
PMCID: PMC3176185
Copyright ©2011 Schramm et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
Comparative efficacy of the Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy versus Supportive Psychotherapy for early onset chronic depression: design and rationale of a multisite randomized controlled trial
Elisabeth Schramm,corresponding author1 Martin Hautzinger,2 Ingo Zobel,1 Levente Kriston,3 Mathias Berger,1 and Martin Härter3
1Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Freiburg, Hauptstraße 5, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
2Department of Psychology, University of Tuebingen, Christophstr. 2, 72072 Tuebingen, Germany
3Department of Medical Psychology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistraße 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
corresponding authorCorresponding author.
Elisabeth Schramm: Elisabeth.Schramm/at/uniklinik-freiburg.de; Martin Hautzinger: Hautzinger/at/uni-tuebingen.de; Ingo Zobel: Ingo.Zobel/at/uniklinik-freiburg.de; Levente Kriston: L.Kriston/at/uke.uni-hamburg.de; Mathias Berger: Mathias.Berger/at/uniklinik-freiburg.de; Martin Härter: M.Haerter/at/uke.uni-hamburg.de
Received June 10, 2011; Accepted August 17, 2011.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background
Effective treatment strategies for chronic depression are urgently needed since it is not only a common and particularly disabling disorder, but is also considered treatment resistant by most clinicians. There are only a few studies on chronic depression indicating that traditional psycho- and pharmacological interventions are not as effective as in acute, episodic depression. Current medications are no more effective than those introduced 50 years ago whereas the only psychotherapy developed specifically for the subgroup of chronic depression, the Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP), faired well in one large trial. However, CBASP has never been directly compared to a non-specific control treatment.
Methods/Design
The present article describes the study protocol of a multisite parallel-group randomized controlled trial in Germany. The purpose of the study is to estimate the efficacy of CBASP compared to supportive psychotherapy in 268 non-medicated early-onset chronically depressed outpatients. The intervention includes 20 weeks of acute treatment with 24 individual sessions followed by 28 weeks of continuation treatment with another 8 sessions. Depressive symptoms are evaluated 20 weeks after randomisation by means of the 24-item Hamilton Rating Scale of Depression (HRSD). Secondary endpoints are depressive symptoms after 12 and 48 weeks, and remission after 12, 20, and 48 weeks. Primary outcome will be analysed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) controlled for pre-treatment scores and site. Analyses of continuous secondary variables will be performed using linear mixed models. For remission rates, chi-squared tests and logistic regression will be applied.
Discussion
The study evaluates the comparative effects of a disorder-specific psychotherapy and a well designed non-specific psychological approach in the acute and continuation treatment phase in a large sample of early-onset chronically depressed patients.
Trial registration
ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT00970437).
Articles from BMC Psychiatry are provided here courtesy of
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