Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Department of Clinical, Neuro and Developmental Psychology
Pim Cuijpers. Ph.D. is full professor of Clinical Psychology at the Department of Clinical, Neuro and Developmental Psychology, Amsterdam Public Health research institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He is also director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Dissemination of Psychological Interventions in Amsterdam. He is also Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Turku, Finland. He is specialised in conducting randomised controlled trials and meta-analyses on prevention and psychological treatments of common mental disorders across the life span. Much of his work is aimed at prevention of mental disorders, psychological treatments of depression and anxiety disorders, and Internet-delivered treatments. He has also published on several other research topics, including global mental health, student mental health, and psycho-oncology. Pim Cuijpers has published more than 1,050 peer-reviewed papers, chapters, reports and professional publications, including more than 800 papers in international peer-reviewed scientific journals. He is on the Thomson-Reuter Web of Science lists of the ‘highly cited researchers’ since the first edition of this list in 2014 (http://highlycited.com/), and is the second most cited researcher in the field of psychiatry and psychology.

Moderator of 1 Session

Tuesday, 7 June: Highlights of the day

Session Type
EPA TV
Date
Tue, 07.06.2022
Session Time
16:30 - 17:00
Room
EPA TV
Session Icon
Fully Live, Live TV

Presenter of 1 Presentation

45 Years of Research on Psychotherapy for Depression: Lessons for the Future

Session Type
Research
Date
Mon, 06.06.2022
Session Time
15:45 - 16:30
Room
Hall C
Session Icon
Fully Live
Lecture Time
15:45 - 16:10

Abstract

Abstract Body

More than 800 randomised controlled trials have examined the effects of psychotherapies for depression and compared psychotherapies with control conditions, with each other, with pharmacotherapy and with combined treatments. These trials have also examined the effects of therapies in specific target groups, such as women with perinatal depression, children and adolescents, older adults, people with general medical disorders and many others. Furthermore, the effects have not just been examined on depressive symptoms, but also on other outcomes, such as quality of life, functional limitations and social support. In this presentation I will present the results of a large meta-analytic project in which new trials are continuously added. I will show that the most important therapies are effective, that most therapies have comparable effects, that these effects remain significant up to one year follow up and that the therapies are effective in most specific groups. But meta-analyses should also be considered with caution, because they overestimate the effects of therapies. The effects of therapies are comparable to those of pharmacotherapy, but at the longer term psychotherapies are more effective. Combined therapy is more effective than either one alone, at the short and longer term.

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