Reasonable and Basic Treatment Guidelines

This chapter defines basic treatment guidelines through a cross-validation of the tentative suggestions provided earlier. The cross-validation relies on the mixed sample comprising the four samples described in this book. Two of the data sets consist of individuals who had been carefully and reliably diagnosed with major depressive disorders. Patients in these samples were treated with either group or individual cognitive therapy, group experiential therapy, individual psychodynamic therapy, antidepressant therapy, or a self-directed bibliotherapy. The chapter included two other samples in which depression was more broadly distributed. These samples included a general outpatient clinic sample on which was practiced the usual form of general outpatient care and a sample of patients being treated for alcohol abuse in a controlled clinical trial of cognitive therapy and family systems therapy.