General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Department of Psychology, Klagenfurt University, Klagenfurt, Austria.
Clin Psychol Psychother. 2017 Sep;24(5):1040-1046. doi: 10.1002/cpp.2067. Epub 2017 Jan 8.
Reduced self-esteem is a core symptom of depression, but few studies have investigated within-treatment change of self-esteem as a predictor of long-term outcome in depression. This study investigated change in self-esteem during 8 weeks of multimodal, psychodynamically oriented psychotherapy for 40 depressed patients and tested whether it would predict outcome 6 months after termination. Data was drawn from a randomized clinical pilot trial on day-clinic versus inpatient psychotherapy for depression. Findings supported the association between change in self-esteem and follow-up depression severity, even when controlling for within-treatment symptom change. Change in self-esteem was not related to overall symptoms and interpersonal problems at follow-up. Thus, change in self-esteem may be an important variable in preventing relapse for depression.
Self-esteem is related to depressive symptoms and interpersonal problems. Improvement of self-esteem during psychotherapy correlates with improvements of symptoms and interpersonal problems. Change of self-esteem during psychotherapy predicts depressive symptoms 6 months after termination of therapy. When treating depressed patients, psychotherapists should work towards an improvement of self-esteem in order to prevent relapse.
自尊降低是抑郁症的核心症状之一，但很少有研究调查治疗过程中自尊的变化作为预测抑郁症长期预后的指标。本研究调查了 40 名抑郁症患者接受 8 周多模式、心理动力学导向心理治疗过程中自尊的变化，并测试其是否能预测治疗结束后 6 个月的结果。数据来自于一项针对抑郁症门诊治疗与住院治疗的随机临床试验。研究结果支持自尊变化与随访时抑郁严重程度之间的关联，即使在控制治疗内症状变化的情况下也是如此。自尊变化与随访时的总体症状和人际关系问题无关。因此，自尊的变化可能是预防抑郁症复发的一个重要变量。
自尊与抑郁症状和人际关系问题有关。心理治疗过程中自尊的改善与症状和人际关系问题的改善相关。治疗结束后 6 个月，治疗过程中自尊的变化可预测抑郁症状。治疗抑郁患者时，心理治疗师应努力改善自尊，以预防复发。
