ABSTRACT
Psychotherapy is the oldest form of treatment for depression still in wide
use, yet historically it has been the least well established in terms of evi-
dence from controlled clinical trials. Once relegated to the sidelines of
research on the differential therapeutics of mood disorders, several forms of
depression-focused psychotherapy have now been identified as being
efficacious treatments of major depressive disorder (MDD). These contempo-
rary, depression-focused forms of therapy are characterized by a number of
elements that have permitted investigation in controlled clinical trials:
(1) they are intended to be shorter-term, time-limited interventions (which
approximate the length of the acute phase of pharmacotherapy); (2) they
are conducted according to procedurally specified protocols; and (3) they are
targeted to relieve the core symptoms of the depressive disorder.
