The Impact of Childhood Maltreatment on Long-Term Outcomes in Disorder-Specific vs. Nonspecific Psychotherapy for Chronic Depression

Background: Childhood maltreatment (CM) predicted poorer outcomes in acute depression treatment with CBT, IPT and Supportive Psychotherapy (SP). The Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP) fared well in patients with chronic depression and CM during acute treatment, yet there is a considerable lack of empirical evidence for long-term outcomes.

Methods: We analyzed one and two-year follow-up data of 268 patients randomized to 24 sessions (20 weeks) of acute and 8 sessions (28 weeks) of extended treatment with CBASP or SP. Primary outcome was the number of well weeks as measured by the Longitudinal Interval Follow-Up Evaluation Interview (LIFE). Secondary outcomes included self- and clinician-rated depression symptoms. We investigated this moderating effect for any CM and for specific subtypes of CM.

Results: Intent-to-treat analyses revealed that the presence of CM did not significantly moderate long-term effects of CBASP compared to SP. The analysis of trauma subtypes revealed that patients with childhood emotional abuse had statistically significant worse outcomes than patients without (main effect, p=.015) and that the advantage of CBASP over SP was larger in patients with childhood emotional abuse than in patients without (interaction effect, p=.045) after 1 year. No significant effects were found for other trauma subtypes.

Limitations: The measurement of CM was limited to retrospective self-assessment.

Conclusions: The presence of CM did not significantly moderate long-term treatment effects of CBASP compared to SP. When trauma subtypes were considered, CBASP was more effective than SP after one year in patients who retrospectively reported emotional abuse.