Brief psychodynamic investigation and depression during hospitalisation

Objective: Building a therapeutic alliance at the very first encounter impr oves different forms of observance. Brief psychodynamic investigation focus es on the impact of past traumatic events, intrapsychic conflicts and pretr ansferance elements. Based on a four session consultation, a hypothesis abo ut the origin of the crisis, the structure of the personality, and the abil ity to modify the psychic functioning is formulated to the patient at the b eginning of the second interview. Method: 17 depressive inpatients treated both with antidepressant pharmacot herapy and supportive psychotherapy are compared with 17 similar antidepres sant treated depressive inpatients but who received brief psychodynamic inv estigation. The two groups were similar in age, medication, marital status and illness duration. Assessment was performed ten days after hospitalisati on with the Haq II (Helping Alliance Questionnary) of Luborsky. Results: Therapeutic alliance at the end of the ten days is significantly h igher after brief psychodynamic investigation (104. 5 VS 90.35; p<0.001). Discussion: A brief psychodynamic investigation followed by an hypothesis f ormulated to the patient at the end of the second interview lends to a bett er therapeutic alliance. Moreover, this method allows faster comprehension of the psychic functioning of patients. Further investigation is necessary to evaluate the efficacity of this procedure on the prognosis of depression and length of hospitalisation.