Autonomous and controlled motivation and interpersonal therapy for depression: Moderating role of recurrent depression

Objectives. We examined the moderating role of depression recurrence on the relatio nb etween autonomous and controlled motivation and interpersonal therap y (IPT) treatment outcome. Design. The investigation was conducted in an out-patient mood disorders clinic of a large university-affiliated psychiatric hospital. The sample represents as ubset of al arger naturalistic database of patients seen in the clinic. Methods. We examined 74 depressed out-patients who received 16 sessions of IPT. The Beck Depression Inventory-II, administered at pre-treatment and post-treatment, serve da sam easure of depressiv es everity .M easure so fm otivation and therapeutic alliance were collected at the third session. Results. In the entire sample ,b oth the therapeutic alliance and autonomous motivation predicted higher probability of achieving remission; however ,t he relation differed for those with highly recurrent depression compared to those with less recurrent depression. For those with highly recurrent depression, the therapeutic alliance predicted remission whereas autonomous motivation had no effect on remission. Fo rt hose with less recurrent depression, both autonomous motivation and the therapeutic alliance predicted better achievin gr emission. Controlled motivation emerged as as ignificant negative predicto ro fr emission across both groups. Conclusion. Ta ke nt ogether ,t hese results highlight the possible use of motivation theor yt oi nform and enrich therapeutic conceptualizations and interventions in clinical practice ,b ut also point to the importance of modifying interventions based on the chronicity of ac lient’ sd epression.