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Depression Research and Treatment
Volume 2013 (2013), Article ID 408983, 5 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/408983
Short-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy in Patients with “Male Depression” Syndrome, Hopelessness, and Suicide Risk: A Pilot Study
1Department of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Sensory Functions and Department of Psychiatry, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, 00189 Rome, Italy
2Department of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Sensory Functions and Department of Psychiatry, Suicide Prevention Center, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, 1035 Via di Grottarossa, 00189 Rome, Italy
3McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA
4Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
5Villa Rosa Medical Research Centre, Viterbo, Italy
Received 20 October 2012; Revised 23 December 2012; Accepted 23 December 2012
Academic Editor: H. Grunze
Copyright © 2013 Gloria Angeletti et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Objectives and Methods. This was an observational study of the efficacy of short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP) in a sample of 35 (30 women and 5 men) patients with moderate-to-severe “male depression” (Gotland Scale for Male Depression (GSMD) ≥ 13) comorbid with unipolar mood disorder (dysthymia and major depression) or anxiety disorder. Outcome measures were GSMD and BHS (Beck Hopelessness Scale) score changes from baseline. Results. Patients had a strong response to STPP on the GSMD (estimated mean score change ; partial eta squared ), but not on the BHS (estimated mean score change ; partial eta squared ). BHS score changes were significantly associated with GSMD score changes (Pearson's ; ), even when controlling for the severity of hopelessness at the baseline (partial ; ). Conclusions. STPP proved to be effective in patients suffering from “male depression” although hopelessness was only marginally reduced by this treatment which points to the need to better understand how STPP can be involved in the reduction of suicide risk.