Patient depressive symptoms and therapist focus on emotional material: a new look at Project MATCH.
OBJECTIVE
Matching treatment modality to patient attribute generally did not improve outcomes in Project MATCH. Untested was whether actual therapist behaviors, irrespective of treatment modality, interacted with patient attributes to improve outcomes. The present study examined whether patient depressive symptoms interacted with therapist focus on painful emotional material to predict the effectiveness of alcohol treatment. Two competing theoretical approaches to treatment effectiveness were considered in light of the results.


METHODS
A self-report measure of pretreatment depressive symptoms was completed by 141 participants from the Providence Clinical Research Unit of Project MATCH. Therapist focus on emotional material was then judged by independent observer ratings of videotaped treatment sessions. The interaction between these patient and therapy variables was tested as a predictor of percentage of days abstinent (PDA) and percentage of heavy drinking days (PHDD) during treatment and over the first year following treatment.


RESULTS
The interaction between patient depressive symptoms and therapist emotion focus consistently predicted PDA and PHDD both during treatment and over the first year posttreatment. For patients with clinically elevated depressive symptoms, improved drinking outcomes occurred with a low therapist focus on painful emotional material. Conversely, depressed patients had worse drinking outcomes when the therapist had a high focus on emotional material. Therapist behavior did not affect drinking outcomes for patients with subclinical depressive symptoms.


CONCLUSIONS
The interaction between depressive symptoms and therapist focus on emotional material was an important predictor of alcohol treatment effectiveness. The results appear to support a theory in which the reduction of patient arousal is a potential mediator of treatment effectiveness. The consistency and robustness of these findings suggest that matching actual therapist behaviors to patient attributes may improve drinking outcomes more than matching based solely on treatment modality.
Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Box G-BH, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA. karno@brown.edu
Mitchell P
MP
Karno
Richard
R
Longabaugh
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000436:Alcoholics Anonymous; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D001143:Arousal; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011613:Psychotherapy; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group; D012237:Rhode Island; D013695:Temperance / Q000523:psychology