Outcome of cognitive behaviour therapy for minor depression in routine practice.

OBJECTIVES: To examine (1) whether the improvement in depressive symptomatology in subjects participating in psychoeducational groups for minor depression in routine practice is comparable to the improvement realized in a randomized efficacy trial; and (2) whether the level of depressive symptoms of subjects who participated in this intervention is similar after treatment to the level of depressive symptoms of the general population. DESIGN: Participants (N = 187) of 20 psychoeducational groups in routine practice in the Netherlands were examined before and after the intervention using the Centre for Epidemiological Studies - Depression scale (CES-D). METHODS: The standardized improvement from pre- to post-test in subjects was compared to the improvement found in subjects participating in a randomized trial of the same intervention. Furthermore, we compared the post-test scores to the scores of the general population. RESULTS: The improvement of depressive symptoms in routine practice was of the same magnitude as the improvement in the randomized trial. However, a considerable proportion of the participants (54.5%) still scored above the cut-off score of the CES-D at post-test, and the mean CES-D score of the participants (M = 17.0; SD = 9.8) differed significantly (p < .01) from the mean score in the general population (M = 9.7; SD = 8.6). CONCLUSION: Psychoeducational intervention can be an important help for people with depressive symptoms. The improvement in terms of depressive symptoms in routine practice does not differ from the improvement found in a randomized trial. However, participants remained considerably more depressed than the general population and this intervention is, for many, not sufficient as a form of treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]