Table 2.

Dysthymia (Adult and Geriatric)

Study	Treatment/s	Number of Sessions	Control Condition/s	Age of subjects	Sample size	Diagnosis	Setting	Therapists' qualification	Results
Dynamic:
Maina et al., 2005[157]	Brief dynamic therapy (BDT) vs brief supportive psychotherapy (BSP)	15-30 weekly sessions	Wait list	Adults aged 18-60	30 assigned of whom 30 completed	DSM-IV NOS (50%); DD (30%); Adjust Dis (20%)	Outpatient clinic in university medical center	Two psychiatrists with personal training in psychodynamic psychotherapy	BDT and BSP both superior to wait list control at post-treatment (9 months) with BDT superior to BSP at 6-month follow-up
Interpersonal:
Feijó de Mello et al 2001[159]	Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) and antidepressant medication (ADM) vs ADM alone	16 weekly sessions during acute and 6 monthly boosters	None	Adults aged 18 to 60	35 assigned of whom 18 completed	DSM-IV dysthymia	Outpatient clinic at university medical center	Single psychiatrist	Adding IPT led to non-significant advantage over ADM alone
Browne et al 2002[160]	Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) vs antidepressant medication (ADM) vs combined treatment (IPT/ADM)	12 hourly sessions over six months	None	Adults aged 18-74	707 assigned of whom 604 completed	DSM-IV dysthymia	Primary care clinic	Masters level counselors	Combined treatment no more efficacious than ADM alone and each better than IPT alone
Markowitz et al 2005[161]	Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) vs antidepressant medication (ADM) vs combined (IPT/ADM)	16-18 sessions over 16 weeks	Brief supportive psychotherapy	Adults aged 18-60	94 assigned of whom 70 completed	DSM-IV dysthymia (early onset)	Outpatient research clinic at university medical center	Professional discipline unspecified	ADM alone or in combination better than either IPT or brief supportive psychotherapy control which did not differ
Markowitz et al 2008[162]	Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT)	16-18 sessions over 16 weeks	Brief supportive psychotherapy	Adults aged 18-60	26 assigned of whom 15 completed	DSM-IV dysthymia and DSM-IV substance abuse	Outpatient research clinic at university medical center	Doctoral level psychologists and masters-level social workers	IPT superior to brief supportive psychotherapy on self-reports of depression
Cognitive:
Dunner et al 1996[166]	Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) vs antidepressant medication (ADM)	16 weekly sessions	None	Adults aged 18-60	31 assigned of whom 25 completed	DSM-III-R dysthymia	Outpatient research clinic	Doctoral level psychologists	No differences between the treatment conditions on measures of depression
Ravindran et al 1999[165]	Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) vs antidepressant medication (ADM) vs combined (CBT/ADM)	12 weekly 90-minute group sessions	Pill-placebo	Adults aged 21-54	97 assigned of whom 94 completed	DSM-III or DSM-IV dysthymia	Outpatient research clinic (recruited volunteers)	Professional discipline not specified	Combined treatment no more efficacious than ADM alone and each better than CBT or placebo
Behavioral:
Barrett et al 2001[167]	Problem-solving therapy (PST) vs antidepressant medication (ADM)	6 sessions over 11 weeks	Pill-placebo	Adults aged 18-59	241 assigned of whom 191 completed	DSM-IIIR dysthymia or minor depression	Primary care settings	Doctoral level psychologists trained in PST	ADM but not PST superior to pill-placebo on continuous measures whereas both ADM and PST beat placebo on rates of response
Williams et al 2000[168]	Problem-solving therapy (PST) vs antidepressant medication (ADM)	6 sessions over 11 weeks	Pill-placebo control	Geriatric aged 60 and above	415 assigned	DSM-IIIR dysthymia or minor depression	Primary care settings	Doctoral level psychologists, MSW social workers, and masters level counselors	ADM but not PST superior to pill-placebo