Outcome of Psychotherapy for Unipolar Depression

Depression is a recurrent disorder; participants in a National Institute of Mental Health/National Institutes of Health (NIMH/NIH) conference estimated that 50% of depressed patients relapse within 2 years of recovery from their initial episode.

Abstract

Clinical depression is a significant mental health and social problem. One in eight individuals is expected to require treatment for depression during his or her lifetime (Secunda, Katz, Friedman, & Schuyler, 1973). Seventy-five percent of psychiatric hospitalizations are due to depression (Secunda et al., 1973). Depressed individuals have poorer health, poorer social functioning (Wells et al., 1989), and higher mortality (Murphy, Monson, Olivier, Sobol, & Leighton, 1987) than nondepressed individuals. Increased mortality is apparently due to higher rates of suicide and accidents for young people and higher rates of chronic medical illness for older ones (Murphy et al., 1987). Depression is a recurrent disorder; participants in a National Institute of Mental Health/National Institutes of Health (NIMH/NIH) conference estimated that 50% of depressed patients relapse within 2 years of recovery from their initial episode (NIMH/NIH, 1985).