Response and non-response of depressive patients to inpatient psychotherapy

Poor outcome of psychotherapeutic treatment has not yet been sufficiently investigated. It is assumed that approximately 25-30% of patients are treatment non-responders and about 5-10% suffer deterioration. The therapeutic success of a total of 2,323 consecutively admitted inpatients with a depressive episode (F32.0-2, F33.0-2) was evaluated by using different strategies based on self ratings at admission and at discharge, i.e. the Beck depression inventory II (BDI-II) and the brief symptom inventory (BSI). In intention to treat (ITT) and completer analyses various measures of therapy success were compared (e.g. statistical significance, effect sizes and clinical significance). Effect sizes were 1.59 (BDI-II) and 0.86 (BSI) for the ITT sample and 1.64 and 0.89 for the completer sample. Analyses using criteria of clinical significance resulted in response rates of 75.5% (BDI-II) and of 68.7% (BSI) for completer analyses and remission rates of 62.2% (BDI-II) and of 40.8% (BSI). Non-Response rates, also including minor responders, varied between 23.4% (BDI-II) and 27.4% (BSI). Deterioration was observed in only 1% (BDI-II) and 3.9% (BSI) of the patients. The results demonstrate that about two thirds of depressive patients show clinically significant improvements within a multimodal, primarily psychotherapeutic inpatient setting, whereas the rates of deterioration are lower than expected. The aim for the future should be to identify poor or minor response as early as possible in order to optimize treatment.