Effect of personality traits among teenagers for depression on the psychoanalytic therapy

Teenagers with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) are much more inclined into have co-occurring Personality Disorder (PD). Teenagers with MDD benefit in short-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy (STPP). The FEST-IT research was an initial experimental study of transference among adolescents, which showed that STPP with MDD-affected adolescents was effective. Investigating potential moderators could improve the value of STPP. Following the diagnosis of 69 depressed teenagers (ages 16 to 18) using a systematic assessment for DSM-IV PDs; the teens were randomized to a 28-week STPP course, either with or without transference treatment. The operationalized model was a mixed linear model. Time, treatment group, and several PD criteria were used in a three-way exchange to assess the moderator impact. The findings for cluster B personality disorder indicate a small but significant moderating influence. When encouraged to examine their current patient-therapist contact, patients who started therapy with a higher percentage of group B PD symptoms fared better. Adolescents with signs of cluster B PD receiving psychoanalytic treatment for MDD appear to benefit more with relationship work than those without this disease.