BACKGROUND: Deterioration in social functioning and depression are often intertwined, particularly for women with histories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Among women with CSA histories, some relationship domains may be more modifiable than others during time-limited depression treatment. Women with CSA histories often report long-standing interpersonal difficulties in close relationships. Thus, we expected that patients' relationships with immediate family and intimate partners would be less likely to improve during treatment than relationships with co-workers, friends, or extended family, unless patients received an interpersonally-focused intervention that targeted close relationships. METHODS: To examine domain-specific social functioning improvements and determine whether some domains were more likely than others to respond to an interpersonally-focused intervention, we analyzed data from a randomized controlled trial investigating Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) vs. usual care (UC) in 69 depressed women with CSA histories. Participants completed the Social Adjustment Scale-SR at pretreatment, 10-, 24-, and 36-weeks. RESULTS: Consistent with our hypotheses, patients reported significant improvements in work roles, leisure activities with friends, and relationships with extended family members over the course of treatment. Relationships with immediate family members and intimate partners did not improve in the overall sample. However, relationships with immediate family improved significantly more among IPT than UC patients. LIMITATIONS: The sample size is small and generalizability may be limited. CONCLUSIONS: Social functioning improvements during depression treatment may be domain-specific among depressed women with CSA histories. IPT is more effective than UC at improving relationships with close family members in this population.
RCT Entities:
BACKGROUND: Deterioration in social functioning and depression are often intertwined, particularly for women with histories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Among women with CSA histories, some relationship domains may be more modifiable than others during time-limited depression treatment. Women with CSA histories often report long-standing interpersonal difficulties in close relationships. Thus, we expected that patients' relationships with immediate family and intimate partners would be less likely to improve during treatment than relationships with co-workers, friends, or extended family, unless patients received an interpersonally-focused intervention that targeted close relationships. METHODS: To examine domain-specific social functioning improvements and determine whether some domains were more likely than others to respond to an interpersonally-focused intervention, we analyzed data from a randomized controlled trial investigating Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) vs. usual care (UC) in 69 depressedwomen with CSA histories. Participants completed the Social Adjustment Scale-SR at pretreatment, 10-, 24-, and 36-weeks. RESULTS: Consistent with our hypotheses, patients reported significant improvements in work roles, leisure activities with friends, and relationships with extended family members over the course of treatment. Relationships with immediate family members and intimate partners did not improve in the overall sample. However, relationships with immediate family improved significantly more among IPT than UCpatients. LIMITATIONS: The sample size is small and generalizability may be limited. CONCLUSIONS: Social functioning improvements during depression treatment may be domain-specific among depressedwomen with CSA histories. IPT is more effective than UC at improving relationships with close family members in this population.
Authors: Eric J Lenze; Mary Amanda Dew; Sati Mazumdar; Amy E Begley; Cleon Cornes; Mark D Miller; Stanley D Imber; Ellen Frank; David J Kupfer; Charles F Reynolds Journal: Am J Psychiatry Date: 2002-03 Impact factor: 18.112
Authors: George I Papakostas; Timothy Petersen; John W Denninger; Eliana Tossani; Joel A Pava; Jonathan E Alpert; Andrew A Nierenberg; Maurizio Fava Journal: J Clin Psychopharmacol Date: 2004-10 Impact factor: 3.153
Authors: Ellen L Poleshuck; Nancy L Talbot; Haiyan Su; Xin Tu; Linda Chaudron; Stephanie Gamble; Donna E Giles Journal: Compr Psychiatry Date: 2008-10-15 Impact factor: 3.735