The future of psychotherapy research: stop the waste and focus on issues that matter

It is well-established that psychotherapies can effectively treat depression. In the past four decades, more than 400 randomized controlled trials have been conducted, showing that different types of psychotherapy are effective, that the effects do not or only marginally differ from each other, that they are comparable with those of antidepressants, and that combined treatment is more effective than psychotherapy or medication alone. However, psychotherapies are probably less effective in chronic depression and dysthymia, when patients have comorbid alcohol problems, and in subthreshold depression, although in these patients therapies can prevent the onset of full-blown major depressive disorders.