Psychodynamic Profile in an Early Dropout Case: Comparing Therapist's and External Judges' perspectives

INTRODUCTION: contemporary psychodynamic therapy research supports combining clinical judgment with empirical evidences. Recent studies suggest that systematically analyzing single cases may contribute to such efforts. Also, current criteria for evidence-based case studies recommend different perspectives on therapeutic process and outcome, such as therapist's and external judges' ratings. Finally, client's dropout conforms a challenge for psychotherapy research. AIMS & METHODS: as part of a SPR Small Research Grant, this study analyzed and compared the psychodynamic profile proposed both by therapist and two external judges, for the same case of early dropout from focused psychodynamic psychotherapy, consisting of two diagnostic interviews and five subsequent sessions, in a patient with an emotional disorder. Being blind to the rating process of the counterpart, Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis (OPD-2) was used by therapist and judges to generate a psychodynamic profile including five therapeutic foci. External judges rating was achieved through consensus, following CQR's guidelines. RESULTS & DISCUSSION: similarities and differences among therapist's and judges' psychodynamic profiles were found. Result's contributions to the understanding of case's early dropout are discussed, along with OPD-2's usefulness for psychodynamic practice-oriented research.(AU)

Benefits of psychodynamic group therapy on depression, burden and quality of life of family caregivers to Alzheimer’s disease patients

Abstract Background Family members providing continuous care to demented patients suffer from severe burden that impairs quality of life and often evolves to depression. Objective This study aims to evaluate the effect of psychodynamic group psychotherapy (PGT) compared to body awareness therapy (BAT) on caregiver burden, depressive symptoms, and quality of life among family caregivers to Alzheimer disease (AD) patients. Methods Thirty-seven healthy family caregivers were randomly allocated to receive PGT (n = 20) or BAT (n = 17). Interventions were administered in the format of 14 weekly group sessions. Outcome measures were: modification of scores on Zarit Burden Scale, Beck Depression Inventory and WHO-QoL Scale. Results Participants in the PGT group displayed significant reduction on burden (p = 0.01) and depression scores (p = 0.005), and improved quality of life (p = 0.002), whereas those in the BAT group showed improvements in burden of care (p = 0.001) and quality of life (p = 0.01), but not on depressive symptoms (p = 0.13). Discussion Psychodynamic psychotherapy was associated with amelioration of depressive symptoms, but overall benefits on burden of care and quality of life were similar irrespective of the type of intervention, i.e., psychologically-oriented or not. We hypothesize that these interventions can be complementary to improve depression and burden of care among family caregivers of AD patients.