COMPARATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF SOCIAL PROBLEM-SOLVING THERAPY AND REMINISCENCE THERAPY AS TREATMENTS FOR DEPRESSION IN OLDER ADULTS

Compared the effects of 2 psychotherapies based on divergent conceptua lizations of depression in later life. Seventy-five older adults diagn osed with major depressive disorder were assigned randomly to problem- solving therapy (PST), reminiscence therapy (RT), or a waiting-list co ntrol (WLC) condition. Participants in PST and RT were provided with 1 2 weekly sessions of group treatment. Dependent measures, taken at bas eline, posttreatment, and 3-month follow-up, included self-report and observer-based assessments of depressive symptomatology. At posttreatm ent, both the PST and the RT conditions produced significant reduction s in depressive symptoms, compared with the WLC group, and PST partici pants experienced significantly less depression than RT subjects. More over, a significantly greater proportion of participants in PST versus RT demonstrated sufficient positive change to warrant classification of their depression as improved or in remission at the posttreatment a nd follow-up evaluations.