Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32180544›Full record

ArticleBJPsych open2020

What do we know about long-term treatment outcomes for severe depressive disorders?

Rebecca Strawbridge, Tanja Jaeckle, Anthony J Cleare

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BJPsych open, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Care pathways for people with major depressive disorder: a European Brain Council Value of Treatment study.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2022
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Rebecca StrawbridgeDepartment of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & ciNeuroscience, King's College London, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2984-1124
Tanja JaeckleDepartment of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, UK.
Anthony J CleareDepartment of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In a recent issue of BJPsych Open, McPherson & Hengartner (see https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2019.65) reviewed 11 trials examining psychological and pharmacological treatment outcomes for chronic or treatment-resistant depression. They concluded that when assessed in the long term, antidepressants become less effective whereas psychological therapies become more effective. We argue that the evidence does not support this; indeed, most of the studies reviewed do not directly compare antidepressant with psychological therapy treatments and there is little consistency between them in terms of populations and interventions examined. The issue of long-term outcomes is key for optimising clinical guidelines and deserves more intensive research and scrutiny to improve patient response in routine practice.

Indexed as

antidepressantsclinical guidelinesDepressive disorderspatient outcomespsychosocial interventions

Identifiers

PMID32180544
PMCPMC7176894

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.