Guidelines for the Systematic Treatment of the Depressed Patient

Abstract
From initial consultation to termination of treatment, psychologists and other mental health practitioners make a series of crucial decisions to determine the progress and therapy of the patient. These decisions have varied implications such as the clinical course of the patient, the efficacy and efficiency of the treatment, and the cost of the sessions. Thus, the decisions made by mental health professionals need to be accurate and consistent, respecting a series of guidelines that will ultimately benefit the patient. This is the first in a series of guidebooks that is designed to do just that by providing practitioners with some structure in the development of treatment programs. Previous guidelines have been based on consensus panels of experts or on the opinions of membership groups, causing guidelines to be very far off from the findings of empirical research. Here, guidelines are presented in terms of treatment principles rather than in terms of specific treatment models or theories, and they do not favour one theory of psychotherapy over another. Instead, they define strategies and considerations that can be woven into comprehensive treatment programmes.

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