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In this letter to the editor of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, the author responds to a previous paper on transgender issues. The author praises the personal account shared by Jules Schaper, which highlights the complex and interconnected causes of suffering experienced by transgender individuals. The author emphasizes the importance of considering psychological support that addresses a broader range of problems, rather than solely focusing on gender-related distress. They also acknowledge the diverse perspectives within the transgender community and the need to listen to all experiences. The author concludes by reflecting on the ethical considerations surrounding medical transitioning and the need for a more inclusive and diverse approach within psychoanalysis. [Extracted from the article]

Death and mourning are being shaped by posthumous opportunities for the dead to affect current life in ways not possible in pre-digital generations. The psychological and sociological impact of the dead 'online' and of 'grief tech' is only beginning to be understood. It has not yet been explored psychoanalytically until this paper that examines one type of grief tech, namely the griefbot. This development is critically explored through a psychoanalytic reading of an episode of Black Mirror. I suggest that a psychoanalytic model of mourning provides an invaluable perspective to help us to think about this technology's potential as well as the psychological and ethical risks it poses. I argue that the immortalisation of the dead through digital permanence works against facing the painful reality of loss and the recognition of otherness, which is fundamental to psychic growth and to the integrity of our relationships with others. Drawing on Derrida's conceptualization of 'originary mourning', I suggest that mourning is an interminable process that challenges us to preserve within the self the otherness of the lost object. The tools we use for mourning need to be assessed first and foremost against this psychological and fundamentally ethical process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The domestication of the Internet has invigorated debate about the harms of pornography. The difference between pre-Internet and online pornography is not in any straightforward sense only one of degree. Compared to pre-Internet pornography, speed, and ease of access to an extensive range of pornographic content, along with the consumption of pornography in a virtual context, have introduced new prudential risks. In this Brief Report I restrict my focus to the impact on sexual health and on personal relationships and summarise the relevant research. Drawing on a psychoanalytically informed conceptual framework, I argue that the online medium changes, in prudentially significant ways, the consumer's relationship to the sexual materials by providing a virtual space within which sexual desire is gratified quickly and non-reflectively, undermining the consumer's capacity a) to mentalise their sexual desire and that of the other and b) to evaluate the prudential risks associated with the consumption of online pornography. The risks are especially significant for the digital generation whose sexual development is now more likely to be shaped by online pornography. I conclude by outlining one key practice implication arising from the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: Analytic identity; ethics; consent EN Analytic identity ethics consent 843 848 6 11/02/23 20231001 NES 231001 And now what will become of us without barbarians Those men were some kind of solution. I want to underline professional identity's I communicative i , external-facing function because consideration of "what is a professional identity I for i ?" In the final analysis, defining an analytic identity and being open to revisiting it is an individual ethical labour because it needs to be considered in a dialogue with "the things that matter", as Taylor puts it: I can define my identity only against the background of things that matter. Conclusion: The "work of identity" In this contribution I have suggested that defining an analytic identity at the macro level is beneficial to the development of our discipline and necessary to clearly communicate what we offer to those who seek our help. [Extracted from the article]

This paper focuses on how for some young people who identify as transgender, the anticipation, and/or the actual process, of transitioning represents a movement away from something in themselves that feels wrong, painful, or traumatic and that has not yet been consciously recognised as such. This becomes a 'missing' part of the self's experience, locked into the body. I suggest that the process of identifying and restitution of 'the missing' part requires working through the natal body in its metaphorical and literal senses, in the service of expanding autonomous choice about how to find a hospitable home in the body. Building on Money-Kyrle's three 'facts of life', I propose a fourth one, namely the inescapable fact of our embodied nature, to underscore that our personal history always includes our embodied history, hence the importance of working through what the natal body unconsciously represents. I describe the use of photographs during psychoanalytic psychotherapy with young people who have commenced social transitioning, to work through visual representations of the natal body in the service of facilitating the working through, in its psychoanalytic sense, of the natal body's unconscious narrative. I suggest that deploying this visual mode may be especially helpful in engaging young people on the autistic spectrum who nowadays comprise a significant minority of transgender young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction summarizes the research on the impact of online pornography on sexual health and relationships in young people. I suggest that the difference between pre-Internet and online pornography is not in any straightforward sense only one of degree. I argue that this is because the online medium changes the young person's relationship to the sexual materials by providing a virtual space within which sexual desire is gratified quickly and non-reflectively, undermining the capacity to mentalize one's own sexual desire and that of the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The capacity of transgender to incorporate all gender variance and sexual preferences has become a powerful tool of activism and personal identification. Rather than being an index of marginality »trans« has become a central cultural site. In this paper, I will argue that this identity label encompasses a complex range of internal psychic positions in relation to consciously stated sexual preferences and gender identifications. My aim is to explore what can appear to be in some cases a premature embracement of the empowering potential of the trans-gender identification through my work with under 18-year-olds who are seeking medical intervention for gender dysphoria. This can undermine the painful psychic work required to establish what transgender means for any given young person. In an external culture where to ask »why transgender« (as opposed to »how transgender«) is felt to be pathologising, working with these young people can prove difficult for the analyst. The challenge is to tread the fine line between a dialogue based on an equidistant curiosity about meaning and function that is core to an analytic approach, and a posture of implicit skepticism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) services treat most patients in England who present to primary care with major depression. Psychodynamic psychotherapy is one of the psychotherapies offered. Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT) is a psychodynamic and mentalization-based treatment for depression. 16 sessions are delivered over approximately 5 months. Neither DIT's effectiveness relative to low-intensity treatment (LIT), nor the feasibility of randomizing patients to psychodynamic or cognitive-behavioural treatments (CBT) in an IAPT setting has been demonstrated. Methods: 147 patients were randomized in a 3:2:1 ratio to DIT (n = 73), LIT (control intervention; n = 54) or CBT (n = 20) in four IAPT treatment services in a combined superiority and feasibility design. Patients meeting criteria for major depressive disorder were assessed at baseline, mid-treatment (3 months) and post-treatment (6 months) using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD-17), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and other self-rated questionnaire measures. Patients receiving DIT were also followed up 6 months post-completion. Results: The DIT arm showed significantly lower HRSD-17 scores at the 6-month primary end-point compared with LIT (d = 0.70). Significantly more DIT patients (51%) showed clinically significant change on the HRSD-17 compared with LIT (9%). The DIT and CBT arms showed equivalence on most outcomes. Results were similar with the BDI-II. DIT showed benefit across a range of secondary outcomes. Conclusions: DIT delivered in a primary care setting is superior to LIT and can be appropriately compared with CBT in future RCTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes work with two patients who experienced an early undercathexis of the body-self. It explores the relationship between this type of deficit and the use made by the patient of the analyst's body and by extension of the body of the analytic room. I propose that in work with patients who have experienced an early undercathexis of the body-self, it is vital to identify those instances when the patient tries to make an "aesthetic link" with the analyst. This refers to how the patient may apprehend by the senses (aesthetic) a feature of the analyst's physicality, or of the physical space of the consulting room, and uses it to make a connection (link) with an as yet unrealized and wished-for embodied self that for some time can only be experienced through an identification with aspects of the analyst's body/room. This has technical implications; I suggest that interpretation of what can appear to be an idealized and/or erotic transference, but is in fact the patient's attempt to establish an aesthetic link, can be experienced as disorganizing and as undermining of a developmental thrust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the development of Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy for use with complex depression (DITCC), and a pilot study testing DITCC's effectiveness. The pilot found large pre-post improvements in well-being and distress; moderate rates of reliable improvement and clinically significant change; and curvilinear declines in depression and anxiety. Treatment completers and near-completers (N= 19) showed a significant curvilinear decline in symptoms of depression (PHQ-9) and anxiety (GAD-7). The results provide preliminary evidence that DITCC can be used as an effective treatment approach for complex depression. However, further research is needed to test its effectiveness in different settings with a larger sample size, using appropriate comparison groups under controlled conditions to further elaborate the short-term and long-term effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The capacity of transgender to incorporate all gender variance and sexual preferences has become a powerful tool of activism and personal identification. Rather than being an index of marginality “trans” has become a central cultural site. In this paper, I will argue that this identity label encompasses a complex range of internal psychic positions in relation to consciously stated sexual preferences and gender identifications. My aim is to explore what can appear to be in some cases a premature embracement of the empowering potential of the transgender identification through my work with under 18-year-olds who are seeking medical intervention for gender dysphoria. This can undermine the painful psychic work required to establish what transgender means for any given young person. In an external culture where to ask “why transgender” (as opposed to “how transgender”) is felt to be pathologising, working with these young people can prove difficult for the analyst. The challenge is to tread the fine line between a dialogue based on an equidistant curiosity about meaning and function that is core to an analytic approach, and a posture of implicit skepticism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current article focuses on client’s perspectives of the mechanisms of change in Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT), a brief psychodynamic therapy developed for the treatment of depression. Five participants were interviewed and the transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The results point out four subthemes, capturing different active ingredients of DIT: therapy shedding light on previously sealed aspects of self; the relational exchange with the therapist challenging intimate fears; moving towards an interpersonal understanding of their difficulties; and putting the pieces of their lives together into a coherent narrative. Overall participants described an interplay between relational and insight-oriented mechanisms taking place. As part of the former mechanisms, participants reported the development of a secure attachment to their therapist and the provision of a new relational experience, partly via mechanisms corresponding to the concept of transference. Participants reported an increase in insight to have been achieved via an understanding of an interpersonal and emotional pattern as well as via the restoration of a coherent life-story. Processes that theoretically map onto the concept of mentalisation were also reported. The findings are discussed in relation to the DIT and psychodynamic theory about change and to relevant research literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I examine the impact of extensive modification of the body on thetemporal link, which is an important feature of human identity, as it provides continuity between different representations of the self over time. I illustrate this with a case of a young boy who underwent sex reassignment surgery in late adolescence after the artificial suspension of puberty through sex hormones. I argue that when hormones are used in this way, one can observe in some cases not only the desired suspension of physical time during which the body’s given biological trajectory is artificially halted, but also of psychological time. In some instances, this biological and psychic detour can result in a marked distortion in the young person’s relationship to time and impacts on their psychological adaptation following surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Dynamic interpersonal therapy (DIT) is a brief manualised psychodynamic intervention for depression. This is a first study exploring clients' experiences of DIT specifically and brief, manualised psychodynamic psychotherapy (PP) in general. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was the methodology employed. Five participants completed a semi-structured interview, three weeks to ten months after completing DIT. The scores of pre- and post-therapy outcome measures of depression and anxiety were also available. Two emerging superordinate themes are presented here: (1) 'The Distinct Features of DIT', referring to how its therapeutic style and time limitations were experienced and (2) the 'Impact of Therapy', referring to perceived outcomes. While previous findings showed that therapist's perceived limited activity in long-term PP was experienced as hindering/unhelpful, the perceived sense of direction in DIT appeared adequate to most participants. Secondly, the time limitations provoked complex responses. Reactions to the distinct elements of DIT are to be treated both as therapeutic opportunities and as challenges. Further, in line with psychoanalytic theory, most participants described relational changes that went beyond symptom relief and remained in progress after therapy ended. Intriguingly, there was no consistency between participants' qualitative accounts of change and the scores of the outcome measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses psychoanalysis in a growing culture associated with technology. As the author suggests, there is a change from industrial economy to information economy that affects psychic economies. Differentiation between real and virtual world, fate of the body in cyberspace and lived and imagined embodiments are also included.

In this paper the author questions whether the body of the analyst may be helpfully conceptualized as an embodied feature of the setting and suggests that this may be especially helpful for understanding patients who develop a symbiotic transference and for whom any variance in the analyst's body is felt to be profoundly destabilizing. In such cases the patient needs to relate to the body of the analyst concretely and exclusively as a setting 'constant' and its meaning for the patient may thus remain inaccessible to analysis for a long time. When the separateness of the body of the analyst reaches the patient's awareness because of changes in the analyst's appearance or bodily state, it then mobilizes primitive anxieties in the patient. It is only when the body of the analyst can become a dynamic variable between them (i.e. part of the process) that it can be used by the patient to further the exploration of their own mind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines the development of a manualized, brief (16 session) psychodynamic intervention—Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT)1—for the treatment of depression. DIT is based on a distillation of the evidence-based brief psychoanalytic/psychodynamic treatments pooled together from manualized approaches that were reviewed as part of the competence framework for psychological therapies first commissioned in the United Kingdom by the Department of Health. This article begins with a description of the methodology underpinning the competence framework, followed by an overview of the model, its relevance to depression, and, finally, its strategies and techniques, which are illustrated through a case study.1DIT is easily confused with Interpersonal Therapy (IPT), because both therapies are interpersonal in their focus. However, IPT is not a psychodynamic therapy and this is reflected in the competences required to deliver it (Lemma, Roth, and Pilling, 2010), which are quite different to the psychoanalytic competences required to deliver DIT. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The transsexual individual confronts the analyst with a disturbing otherness. How this otherness is understood, that is, how the analyst 'looks' at the patient through her distinctive theoretical lens impacts, in turn, on the patient's experience and what transpires between them. In this paper the author outlines a developmental model rooted in attachment and object relations theory to provide one alternative way of 'looking' at some of these patients' experiences in the clinical setting. It is suggested that in some cases of transsexuality the primary object(s) did not mirror and contain an early experience of incongruity between the given body and the subjective experience of gender: it remains unmentalized and disrupts self-coherence leading to the pursuit of surgery that is anticipated to 'guarantee' relief from the incongruity. Through an account of work with a male to female (MtF) transsexual who underwent surgery during her five years of psychotherapy, the author explores how a focus on the transsexual's experience of 'being seen', that is, of being taken in (or not) visually and mentally by the object in their state of incongruity, affords another window through which to approach the transsexual's experience in the transference-countertransference dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines the findings of a qualitative study involving interviews with eight transsexual individuals who had volunteered to take part in a television (TV) documentary about transsexuality. The participants were interviewed before taking part in the documentary and after its screening on national TV. The author proposes that for either biological and/or psychological reasons, some transsexual individuals experience early on a profound and disturbing incongruence at the level of the bodily self. In turn, this experience of incongruity is not contingently mirrored by primary attachment figures and remains unmentalized, thus disrupting self-coherence. In an attempt to restore self-coherence, the individual searches for the 'right' body that is anticipated to relieve the felt incongruity. The way this modified body relieves the incongruity is through the certainty it imparts that the image in the 'mirror' will match the subjective experience of the body. In this study, the experience of being mirrored through the group process during filming and the audience's response to the TV series, which was very positive, appeared to be associated with an attenuation in the urgency with which planned body modifications were being discussed post-TV screenings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

abstract In this paper the author argues that psychoanalytic education is enhanced when (a) it attends seriously to the affective, relational and social processes that frame the experience of teaching and of learning, fostering a critical engagement with both, and (b) it engages candidates in exploring what they do (technique) in the context of the articulation of their model of working (theory). The features of the 'teaching attitude' that are relevant to psychoanalytic education are illustrated though a 'teaching case study' detailing the rationale, process and content for a curriculum on the concept of transference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reveiws the film "The Skin I Live In," by Pedro Almodóvar.

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Carrington et al. on the psychoanalytic principles underpinning an innovative service in primary care working with general practitioners, one by Chalder et al. on developments in the understanding of chronic fatigue syndrome and one by Taylor on working with patients with medically unexplained symptoms.

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one on homophobia by Allen, one on the changing socio-political and mental health landscape of sexuality by King and one by Barden on the contemporary concepts of gender and sexual identity.

This paper describes a protocol for a brief psychodynamic intervention (Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy; DIT) for use with depressed patients and a pilot study set out to test its acceptability and compatibility with session-by-session monitoring as a prelude to a future randomized controlled trial. Sixteen consecutively referred, depressed patients (aged 20-53) were offered 16 sessions of DIT. Patient outcomes were collected pre-post, and on a session-by-session basis, using the PHQ-9 and GAD-7. Therapist and supervision feedback indicates that this structured psychodynamic treatment could be effectively taught, and that the key competences involved were acquired and demonstrated in the clinical work supervised. Patients found the treatment acceptable and relevant to their problems. The treatment appeared compatible with session-by-session monitoring of symptoms of anxiety and depression. DIT was associated with a significant reduction in reported symptoms in all but one case, to below clinical levels in 70% of the patients. Random regression models revealed highly significant linear and quadratic components, confirming the decrease in reported symptom severity but cautioning about slight increase in symptoms around the ending phase of the treatment. The results suggest that DIT is promising in its acceptability and effectiveness with an unselected group of primary care patients, and is easily acquired by psychodynamically trained clinicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines the development of a manualized, brief (16-session) psychodynamic intervention - Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT)1 - for the treatment of depression. DIT is based on a distillation of the evidence-based brief psychoanalytic/psychodynamic treatments pooled together from manualized approaches that were reviewed as part of the competence framework for psychological therapies first commissioned by Skills for Health. DIT has now been selected as the brief psychodynamic protocol that will be provided nationally in the UK as part of the IAPT programme. This paper will first describe the methodology underpinning the competence framework followed by an overview of the model, its relevance to depression, and finally its strategies and techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of the key working relationship in helping traumatised and characteristically hard-to-reach young people. A grounded theory approach was used to analyse data from 18 semi-structured interviews carried out with both key workers and young users in a community-based, innovative project in Inner London, Kids Company. The following four codes emerged: titrating intimacy, the power of relationship, the therapeutic function of hope and 'knowing your own ghosts'. As well as supporting the important therapeutic function of the key working relationship, this paper draws on the analysis of the data to outline a three-phase model of intervention (fostering place attachment-homeostatic attunement-disruptive attunement) when working with traumatised and often hard-to-reach young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports that are published within the issue including one by Stan Rusczynski on psychoanalysis, one by Jeremy Holmes on psychotherapy and one by Heather Wood on psychoanalytic research.

The focus of this paper is on individuals who present as excessively preoccupied with their body, perceiving some aspect(s) to be ‘ugly’ such that they feel compelled to alter and/or conceal this ‘ugly’ body part. These difficulties are understood as symptoms of an underlying narcissistic disturbance. The author suggests that the relative pervasiveness of an identification with a ‘super’-ego accounts for the degree of severity of the disturbance (increasing the compulsion to alter and/or conceal the hated body part) and that it has implications for the patient’s accessibility in analytic treatment. Understanding the vicissitudes of the development of the body–self in the context of the earliest relationship with the ‘object of desire’ is core to helping these patients because of the quality of the identifications that ensue and that are then enacted the transference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines the author's personal experience of contributing to the development of the first ever training in clinical psychology in Bangladesh. This was part of a link project between University College London and Dhaka University. It examines the challenges posed by such an enterprise through the author's experience of teaching and assessing patients in the local psychiatric wards. It questions the validity of exporting Western models of psychotherapy — psychoanalysis in particular — to a non-Western culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People tend to evaluate their own traits and abilities favourably and such favourable self-perceptions extend to attractiveness. However, the exact mechanism underlying this self-enhancement bias remains unclear. One possibility could be the identification with attractive others through blurring of self–other boundaries. Across two experiments, we used the enfacement illusion to investigate the effect of others' attractiveness in the multisensory perception of the self. In Experiment 1 (N = 35), participants received synchronous or asynchronous interpersonal visuo-tactile stimulation with an attractive and non-attractive face. In Experiment 2 (N = 35), two new faces were used and spatial incongruency was introduced as a control condition. The results showed that increased ratings of attractiveness of an unfamiliar face lead to blurring of self–other boundaries, allowing the identification of our psychological self with another's physical self and specifically their face, and this seems to be unrelated to perceived own attractiveness. The effect of facial attractiveness on face ownership showed dissociable mechanisms, with multisensory integration modulating the effect on similarity but not identification, an effect that may be purely based on vision. Overall, our findings suggest that others' attractiveness may lead to positive distortions of the self. This research provides a psychophysical starting point for studying the impact of others' attractiveness on self-face recognition, which can be particularly important for individuals with malleable, embodied self–other boundaries and body image disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the uncomfortable relationship between research and psychoanalysis. She notes that evidence-based practice, which is the primary driver in U.S. healthcare, will require a better acquaintance between the two disciplines and that an engagement with evidence-based practices will place a demand on psychoanalytic psychotherapy to try different approaches that may feel alien to established methods.

An introduction to the journal in which the editor discusses the issue of public expenditure in psychological therapies through the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT), the appointment of Dr. Thomas Pennybacker and Geraldine Shipton to the editorial team, and the editorial choices of the publication is presented.

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Hobson, Cooper and Wren on the relationship between scientific evidence and practice, one by Werbart et al. on how research can inform psychotherapy practice and one by Spurling on what psychoanalytic psychotherapy can learn from interpersonal psychotherapy.

In this article, authors tell that psychotherapy is very effective in the treatment of mental health problems.

The author reflects on the relationship between an individual's mental health and physical health. She cites a 2011 document released by the British government, titled "No Health Without Mental Health," noting its message that mental health is as vital as physical health and discusses various articles within the issue on topics including the role of psychiatrists in clinical psychiatry, quality mental health care, and quality physical health care.

An introduction to a series of articles dedicated to the work of British psychiatrist Richard Lucas is presented.

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses an article on automata states by Alistair Sweet, an article on the care of schizophrenics by John Gale and an article on the relationship between masochism and suicidality by Mark Goldblatt.

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses various reports delivered at the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy NOW Conference held in June 2009 and the impact of Great Britain's Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme on psychological therapies.

Patients with functional somatic disorders (FSD) represent a sizeable group in our health care system. FSD are associated with high health care use and considerable personal and economic costs. Evidence-based treatments for FSD are only modestly effective in a large subgroup of patients, particularly in the long run, which emphasizes the need to develop more effective treatments rooted in extant knowledge about the nature of FSD. This paper presents a contemporary psychodynamic perspective on the conceptualization and treatment of patients with FSD rooted in attachment and mentalization theory. First, we review animal and human research demonstrating the close relationships among attachment, stress regulation, and immune and pain-regulating systems. We highlight research findings concerning the high interpersonal and metabolic costs associated with the use of insecure secondary attachment strategies (i.e. attachment deactivating and hyperactivating strategies) leading to increased vulnerability for stress. Next, we review evidence for the role of impairments in (embodied) mentalization in patients with FSD both as cause and consequence of functional somatic complaints, leading to the re-emergence of so-called non-mentalizing modes, i.e. modes of subjectivity that antedate the capacity for full mentalizing. Based on these views, a novel brief psychodynamic intervention for patients with functional somatic complaints is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP) is frequently used to treat depression, but it is unclear which patients might benefit specifically. Individual participant data (IPD) meta-analyses can provide more precise effect estimates than conventional meta-analyses and identify patient-level moderators. This IPD meta-analysis examined the efficacy and moderators of STPP for depression compared to control conditions. PubMed, PsycInfo, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched September 1st, 2022, to identify randomized trials comparing STPP to control conditions for adults with depression. IPD were requested and analyzed using mixed-effects models. IPD were obtained from 11 of the 13 (84.6%) studies identified (n = 771/837, 92.1%; mean age = 40.8, SD = 13.3; 79.3% female). STPP resulted in significantly lower depressive symptom levels than control conditions at post-treatment (d = −0.62, 95%CI [−0.76, −0.47], p <.001). At post-treatment, STPP was more efficacious for participants with longer rather than shorter current depressive episode durations. These results support the evidence base of STPP for depression and indicate episode duration as an effect modifier. This moderator finding, however, is observational and requires prospective validation in future large-scale trials. • Short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP) is a treatment for depression. • STPP is superior to control conditions in decreasing depressive symptoms. • Depressive episode duration might moderate STPP outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]