Therapy expectations of adolescent psychotherapy patients with depressive disorders

• Applicant: Dr. Katharina Weitkamp
• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology ; Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry ; Public Health, Healthcare Research, Social and Occupational Medicine
• Term: from 2014 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 262809418

Psychotherapy is an effective treatment for children and adolescents with mental disorders. In view of these positive effects for a substantial number of patients, it is of prime importance not to disregard the patients who do not profit from therapy for a number of reasons, be it so-called non-responders or therapy drop-outs. In contrast with the obvious necessity to address these problems and barriers to treatment on a scientific level, the scientific knowledge base is still deficient, especially in the area of child and adolescent treatments. In this sense, quantitative research reaches its limits. Based on this deficit, notable researchers demand the combined usage of qualitative and quantitative research methods. One study that sets an example for this so-called triangulation is the ongoing Improving Mood with Psychoanalytic and Cognitive Therapies (IMPACT) study, which is carried out at the Anna Freud/Centre in London and amongst others headed by Professor Peter Fonagy, Professor Mary Target, and Dr. Nick Midgley in cooperation with other universities. Aside from the conventional quantitative methods, the IMPACT-study incorporates qualitative investigation as well as gene-analytic and neuroimaging techniques. The qualitative branch of the study is of particular interest in regard to the above mentioned "blind spots" of youth psychotherapy. The so-called IMPACT-My Experience (IMPACT-ME) study is headed by Dr. Nick Midgley and focuses in-depth on the subjective adolescent expectations regarding therapy and their experiences within the therapeutic process. Since therapy discontinuation take place particularly during the first sessions of treatment, it seems of importance to pay close attention to this phase, including the expectations which patients have about their upcoming psychotherapy process and outcome. Therapy expectations have been considered to be a common treatment factor in adult treatments. So far, there are no existing findings for adolescent therapy expectations. The aim of my intended research fellowship at the AFC and the IMPACT-study is the implementation of a qualitative interview study on therapy expectations of depressed adolescents the same way as the IMPACT-ME study. The interviews will be carried out in advance in Germany and then analysed as part of my stay at the AFC. In addition to the conceptual goal to focus on therapy expectations, the intended collaboration in the IMPACT-study is carried out with the intention to become acquainted with qualitative data analyses on a deeper level and to gain knowledge about the practical implementation of the combination of qualitative and quantitative research branches. Subsequent to the fellowship, I plan to apply the acquired skills of triangulation in own research project on positive and negative courses of youth therapy to make a contribution to the optimization of psychotherapy health care.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: United Kingdom
• Host: Nicholas Midgley, Ph.D.