“Two approaches, one purpose” - Evaluating treatment effectiveness of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to Major Depressive Disorder on adult population; a systematic literature review.

Abstract

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a significantly debilitating and prevalent mental condition, that appears to be influenced by various biological and environmental factors and possess substantial risks for physio-psychological functioning. Considering these adverse implications, various psychotherapeutic interventions have surfaced, in which Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Psychodynamic Therapy (PDT) stand out as the most prominent, non-pharmacological treatment approaches in adults with MDD. To assess these assumptions, the current study implemented a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) to investigate treatment effectiveness of CBT and PDT to MDD, on adult population. Results concur with previous literature, indicating that both approaches from their own accords exhibit relatively similar beneficial outcomes as psychotherapeutic treatments to MDD, with the sole notable difference being the longevity of the effects. These assumptions may indirectly implicate that CBT tends to provide fast, yet not as enduring effects, whereas PDT although could necessitate a longer timeframe to exhibit results, might produce effects of relatively greater duration. Several implications concerning remission and response rates, treatment effectiveness, relapse, and probable biases in interventional literature are thoroughly discussed.