ABSTRACT
Studies investigating post-treatment efficacy with persistent depressive disorder (PDD) patients have been reported. There is a growing realization that unipolar depression is often a recurring or chronic disorder and that achieving remission at the end of a treatment regime does not complete the practitioner's duty, various forms of maintenance treatment are required. The authors recommend that patients should be informed from the outset of Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP) treatment that the chronic forms of unipolar depression are not curable but are manageable. Most chronic patients continue to report interpersonal difficulties after psychotherapy ends, and they must be reminded to apply what they learned in therapy to resolve the difficulties. The goal for the post-treatment period is to protect against the extinction of the older patterns by maintaining the strength of the new learning. The new learning resulted in the clinician labeling this new style, The Authentic Stephen.
