10.17605/OSF.IO/JT9BH
Pim Cuijpers
Pim
Cuijpers
https://osf.io/2mhks/
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Eirini Karyotaki
Eirini
Karyotaki
https://osf.io/bfwh9/
0000-0002-0071-2599
Marketa Ciharova
Marketa
Ciharova
https://osf.io/s5keq/
0000-0002-7131-1549
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Hisashi Noma
Hisashi
Noma
https://osf.io/2qamf/
Soledad Quero
Soledad
Quero
https://osf.io/bruzc/
Matthijs Oud
Matthijs
Oud
https://osf.io/4phmx/
A meta-analytic database of randomised trials on psychotherapies for depression
Open Science Framework
2022
Bruce Arroll
Bruce
Arroll
https://osf.io/9f8zr/
Toshi A. Furukawa
Toshi
Furukawa
https://osf.io/zamc6/
0000-0003-2159-3776
Open Science Framework
https://ror.org/05d5mza29/
https://grid.ac/institutes/grid.466501.0/
2019-10-16
2021-09-07
2022-08-31
Pre-registration
CC0 1.0 Universal
Background. The number of trials on psychotherapies for adult depression is very large and is quickly growing. Because of this large body of knowledge, it is important that the results of these studies are summarized and integrated in meta-analytic studies. More than a decade ago we developed a meta-analytic database of these trials, which was updated yearly through systematic literature searches. Recently, we developed a new version of this meta-analytic database, built on the systems and experience from our earlier database, but with completely new searches and improved methods. In this paper we will describe the methods and some first results of this database.
Description. We conducted systematic literature searches in bibliographical databases (PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials to identify all trials on psychotherapy for adult depression (deadline January 1st, 2019). We excluded trials on maintenance and relapse prevention, dissertations, collaborative care, and studies not published in English, German, Spanish or Dutch. After reading 21,976 records (16,701 after exclusion of duplicates), we included 661 randomized trials. We distinguished the following categories of trials: Psychotherapy versus pharmacotherapy (65 studies), combined treatment versus pharmacotherapy alone (46), combined treatment versus psychotherapy alone (29), combined treatment versus psychotherapy plus placebo (18), psychotherapy versus control (335), psychotherapy versus another therapy (109), psychotherapy for inpatients (34), unguided self-help interventions (48), comparisons of different treatment formats (38), cognitive bias modification (14) and other comparisons (99).
Over the years we have published several dozens of meta-analyses using this databases (including its previous versions).
Conclusion. Psychotherapy for depression is definitely the best studied type of psychotherapy for any mental health problem. We hope that our database can be used as a resource for researchers who want to conduct systematic reviews and meta-analyses of subgroups of these studies.