Revolutionary therapy for depression: childhood trauma in focus!

Revolutionary therapy for depression: childhood trauma in focus!

München, Deutschland - Wiesbaden (ots)

In Germany, an estimated five to six million people live with depression. An important risk factor for the development of this mental illness is early childhood abuse. Despite their urgency, these experiences often remain undetected because they are usually not systematically recorded. Now researchers have developed a new analysis procedure based on childhood trauma and aimed at better predicting the effectiveness of therapies for patients with chronic depression.

A team of scientists that includes Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) in Munich and the University Hospital Freiburg has examined the various dimensions of abuse experiences in childhood. These research testify to a great need for methodological approaches that capture the effects of this experience on health. Professor Dr. Stephan Goerigk from Charlotte Fresenius University stated that the World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes abuse as a crucial risk factor for mental disorders. The forms of abuse range from emotional neglect to physical abuse to sexual abuse.

The new analysis procedure

The developed procedure not only captures individual abuse types, but also their combinations, in order to enable a comprehensive look at the experience of the patients. Earlier studies have shown that common treatment approaches, such as pharmacotherapy, are often less effective in patients with abuse experiences. The new approach model can now support doctors to make better therapy decisions.

A central result of this research is the exact prediction of how well a specific therapy, in particular the "cognitive behavioral analysis system of psychotherapy" (CBASP), could work. Prof. Dr. Goerigk explains that this therapy approach in particular combines emotional-cognitive aspects and enables patients to re-evaluate their stressful experience. It is about recognizing old relationship patterns and further processing them in therapeutic work.

CBASP - an individual therapy approach

What makes the CBASP so special? It promotes an intensive examination of past relationship experiences to help those affected to understand and improve their current interactions. The aim of this therapy is to develop new behavior patterns and to make interpersonal relationships positively. Patients learn that not all relationships have to be stressful such as those that they have experienced in their childhood.

The implementation of CBASP therapy is possible in various facilities, whereby outpatient and inpatient frames are offered. In Munich, Prof. Dr. Frank Padberg at the LMU Klinikum Munich this form of therapy. Interested parties can find detailed information on the website of the German -speaking Society for CBASP.

The interest in this new analysis procedure has increased noticeably in the scientific community. In order to further deepen the topic, a podcast was published that deals with the results of the study and the implications for psychotherapy. This discussion, led by Prof. Dr. Padberg and Prof. Dr. Goerigk, deals with the importance of early childhood abuse for the success of psychotherapeutic treatments.

The new procedure is a valuable contribution to improving psychiatric treatment and could possibly revolutionize the way patients treated with depression. according to the report at www.presseportal.de Sharpen abuse in childhood.

A detailed view of the study is described in the journal "The Lancet Psychiatry", where the researchers present their results and provide further information on the methodology.