The British Journal of Psychiatry (2008) 193: 505-506. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.107.042937
© 2008 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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SHORT REPORTS

Cognitive–behavioural therapy v. usual care in recurrent depression

Henk Jan Conradi, PhD

Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, and Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam

Peter de Jonge, PhD

Department of Psychiatry & Department of Internal Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, and Centre of Research on Psychology and Somatic Disease, Department of Medical Psychology, Tilburg University

Johan Ormel, PhD

Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands

Correspondence: Henk Jan Conradi, Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Groningen, P.O. Box 30.001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands. Email: h.j.conradi{at}med.umcg.nl

Declaration of interest

None.

We examined in a primary care sample whether acute-phase cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT) would be more effective than usual care for patients with multiple prior episodes of depression. Depression outcome was based on a 3-monthly administered Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) during a 2-year follow-up. We confirmed that in patients with four or more prior episodes, CBT outperformed usual care by four points on the BDI, but not in patients with three or fewer prior episodes. Subsequent analyses suggested that CBT may be able to tackle cognitive problems related to rumination in patients with recurrent depression.