TY - JOUR

T1 - Effect of psychotherapy for depression on quality of life

T2 - Meta-analysis

AU - Kolovos, Spyros

AU - Kleiboer, Annet

AU - Cuijpers, Pim

PY - 2016/12

Y1 - 2016/12

N2 - Background: Several meta-analyses have shown that psychotherapy is effective for reducing depressive symptom severity. However, the impact on quality of life (QoL) is as yet unknown. Aims: To investigate the effectiveness of psychotherapy for depression on global QoL and on the mental health and physical health components of QoL. Method: We conducted a meta-analysis of 44 randomised clinical trials comparing psychotherapy for adults experiencing clinical depression or elevated depressive symptoms with a control group. We used subgroup analyses to explore the influence of various study characteristics on the effectiveness of treatment. Results: We detected a small to moderate effect size (Hedges' g = 0.33, 95% CI 0.24-0.42) for global QoL, a moderate effect size for the mental health component (g = 0.42, 95% CI 0.33- 0.51) and, after removing an outlier, a small but statistically significant effect size for the physical health component (g = 0.16, 95% CI 0.05-0.27). Multivariate meta-regression analyses showed that the effect size of depressive symptoms was significantly related to the effect size of the mental health component of QoL. The effect size of depressive symptoms was not related to global QoL or the physical health component. Conclusions: Psychotherapy for depression has a positive impact on the QoL of patients with depression. Improvements in QoL are not fully explained by improvements in depressive symptom severity.

AB - Background: Several meta-analyses have shown that psychotherapy is effective for reducing depressive symptom severity. However, the impact on quality of life (QoL) is as yet unknown. Aims: To investigate the effectiveness of psychotherapy for depression on global QoL and on the mental health and physical health components of QoL. Method: We conducted a meta-analysis of 44 randomised clinical trials comparing psychotherapy for adults experiencing clinical depression or elevated depressive symptoms with a control group. We used subgroup analyses to explore the influence of various study characteristics on the effectiveness of treatment. Results: We detected a small to moderate effect size (Hedges' g = 0.33, 95% CI 0.24-0.42) for global QoL, a moderate effect size for the mental health component (g = 0.42, 95% CI 0.33- 0.51) and, after removing an outlier, a small but statistically significant effect size for the physical health component (g = 0.16, 95% CI 0.05-0.27). Multivariate meta-regression analyses showed that the effect size of depressive symptoms was significantly related to the effect size of the mental health component of QoL. The effect size of depressive symptoms was not related to global QoL or the physical health component. Conclusions: Psychotherapy for depression has a positive impact on the QoL of patients with depression. Improvements in QoL are not fully explained by improvements in depressive symptom severity.

KW - Psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85021066238&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1192/bjp.bp.115.175059

DO - 10.1192/bjp.bp.115.175059

M3 - Scientific review articles

C2 - 27539296

AN - SCOPUS:85021066238

VL - 209

SP - 460

EP - 468

JO - British Journal of Psychiatry

JF - British Journal of Psychiatry

SN - 0007-1250

IS - 6

ER -