Attachment Security as Mediator and Moderator of Outcome in Major Depression
NCT ID: NCT00461279
Last Updated: 2011-12-06
Study Results
The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.
Basic Information
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COMPLETED
NA
134 participants
INTERVENTIONAL
2006-08-31
2010-03-31
Brief Summary
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Detailed Description
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One problem may be in the type of treatment that is offered to the individual. We know little about which clients benefit from which type of treatments and which clients do poorly. One individual may respond better to one type of treatment, while another individual may respond better to another type of treatment. The accurate identification of how an individual's characteristics interact with the type of treatment offered will help us match patients to the best-suited treatment for them, so we can optimize outcome.
One characteristic that may be related to treatment outcome is adult attachment security. Adult attachment reflects how one seeks psychological and physical proximity to others for security and protection in times of stress. Researchers typically define four types of attachment security: one secure and three insecure (preoccupied, dismissing, and fearful). Secure adults have a good sense of self-worth and are comfortable with intimacy. Preoccupied adults have an exaggerated desire for closeness and a heightened concern about rejection. Dismissing adults deny the value of close relationships and instead value self-reliance. Finally, fearful adults have a very negative sense of self and avoid intimacy because they fear rejection. Secure attachment has been linked to positive interpersonal relationships and psychological health and insecure attachment has been linked to overall psychological distress.
In this study, I focus on attachment security and its relation to treatment outcome. Adults with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) will be randomly assigned to either Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) or to Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). The expectation is that adults with avoidant attachment styles will respond better to CBT, and adults with preoccupied attachment styles will respond better to IPT. Also, in comparison to CBT, outcome in IPT is hypothesized to be more closely related to change in attachment.
The power of this study lies in its considered integration of three important issues at the forefront of mental health today: MDD, attachment, and treatment. MDD is a leading cause of disability worldwide and theoretically and empirically related to attachment. Attachment theory is a primary paradigm in the developmental, social/personality, and clinical literatures, and forms the theoretical cornerstone for IPT. IPT and CBT, while successful to a degree, fail or partially fail in many cases. Successful outcome in IPT depends on successfully improving a patient's attachment representations; this is not the case in CBT where change in depression is associated with change in cognition. The fact that these treatments represent contrasting approaches in the context of attachment, affords us a unique opportunity to investigate the relationships between attachment and treatment outcome for two distinct treatments, and investigate whether an individual's attachment security interacts with the type of treatment offered to yield a better response for one type of treatment versus another. This research could have a major impact on tailoring treatment to patient characteristics to optimize treatment for major depression.
Conditions
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Keywords
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Study Design
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RANDOMIZED
PARALLEL
TREATMENT
NONE
Study Groups
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1
Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Reframing and understanding cognitions of depression
2
Interpersonal Psychotherapy
Established psychotherapy for depression
Interventions
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Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Reframing and understanding cognitions of depression
Interpersonal Psychotherapy
Established psychotherapy for depression
Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria
* meet the criteria for DSM-IV diagnosis of MDD based on the Structured Interview for DSM-IV, Axis I disorders (SCID-I; First et al., 1995)
* score \> 16 on the 17-item HRSD (Hamilton, 1960).
Exclusion Criteria
* Schizoaffective Disorder
* Schizophrenia
* Substance Abuse
* Borderline or Antisocial Personality Disorder
* Organic Brain Syndrome
* ECT within the past 6 months
* concurrent active medical illness
18 Years
ALL
No
Sponsors
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Ontario Mental Health Foundation
OTHER_GOV
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
OTHER
Responsible Party
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Carolina McBride
Dr. Carolina McBride, C.Psych
Principal Investigators
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Carolina McBride, PhD
Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Locations
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Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Countries
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Related Links
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Information about research at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Other Identifiers
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165/2006
Identifier Type: -
Identifier Source: org_study_id