TA treatment of depression : a hermeneutic single-case
efficacy design study - ‘Anna’

Benelli, E; Moretti, E; Cavallero, GC; Greco, G; Calvo, V; Mannarini, S; Palmieri, A; Widdowson, MDJ

Abstract

This study is the first of a series of seven, and belongs to
the second Italian systematic replication of findings from
two previous series (Widdowson 2012a, 2012b, 2012c,
2013; Benelli, 2016a, 2016b, 2016c) that investigated the
effectiveness of a manualised transactional analysis
treatment for depression through Hermeneutic Single-
Case Efficacy Design (HSCED). The therapist was a
white Italian woman with 8 years of clinical experience
and the client, Anna, was a 33-year old white Italian
woman who attended 16 sessions of transactional
analysis psychotherapy. Anna satisfied DSM-5 criteria
for mild persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia) with
anxious distress. The conclusion of the judges was that
this was a good-outcome case: the dysthymic symptoms
improved over the course of the therapy and were
maintained in the ‘healthy’ range at the 6-month followup,
the client reported a positive experience of the
therapy and described important changes in intrapsychic
and interpersonal patterns. In this case study,
transactional analysis treatment for depression has
proven its efficacy in treating persistent depressive
disorder.

Citation

efficacy design study - ‘Anna’. International Journal of Transactional Analysis Research, 8(1), 3-20

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 1, 2017
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: Mar 17, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 17, 2017
• Journal: International Journal of Transactional Analysis Research
• Print ISSN: 2218-3159
• Publisher: European Association for Transactional Analysis
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 3-20
• Publisher URL: http://www.ijtar.org/article/view/17410
• Related Public URLs: http://www.ijtar.org