The relationship between therapeutic approach and treatment duration of patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder

Abstract

Lebanon has faced socio-political and economic hardships in the previous three years, which has increased Major Depressive Disorder diagnoses significantly. Health-specialized NGOs like International Medical Corps offer targeted, brief, and specialized services in outpatient clinics integrated into primary health care centers to treat depression patients due to limited resources. As demand for their services rises, the tendency is towards a shorter-term depression treatment that alleviates symptoms to accommodate the increasing number of patients referred. This study examines the effects of psychotherapy, medication, and a combination of both on treatment duration, considering age, gender, modality, and nationality. In this retrospective correlational study, to examine the relationships between the variables descriptive analysis, ANOVA, t-tests, and regression analysis were performed sequentially. Post hoc analysis was used to determine the group differences, and univariate analysis was used to find distinctive patterns and determine how they affected treatment length. Using ANOVA, therapeutic intervention and modality showed statistically significant effects on the duration of treatment. Age, gender, and nationality had no effect. Bonferroni's post hoc analysis, Psychotherapy outperformed Pharmacotherapy and Remote/Telemedicine outperformed In-Clinic in treatment length. Independent sample t-tests showed a significant difference, where Psychotherapy and Combined Therapy were shorter than Pharmacotherapy. Remote/Telemedicine is shorter than in-clinic therapy. The multivariate regression analysis showed statistically significant favorable relationships between treatment length, medication use, and combination modality. A mixed-design ANOVA showed that treatment, gender, age group, and modality affect therapy length. Modality and age group had statistically significant effects. Because the interaction effects were not statistically significant, the total impact of these factors was not statistically significant.