title: The importance of interpersonal treatment goals for depressed inpatients.
abstract: Increased understanding of the treatment goals of depressed patients may lead to improved treatments and assist researchers and program evaluators in choosing clinically relevant outcome measures. To characterize patients' depression treatment goals, we interviewed hospitalized depressed patients about their treatment goals. Common responses included improving relationships, decreasing sadness or anxiety, and finding a job or improving job performance. On a written questionnaire, patients also ranked decreasing suicidal thoughts highly. These results suggest that for many severely depressed individuals, primary treatment goals include improvements in social and occupational functioning in addition to symptomatic improvement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Butler Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island 02906, USA. lisa_uebelacker@brown.edu
authors.forename: Lisa A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Uebelacker
authors.forename: Cynthia L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Battle
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.forename: Esteban V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Cardemil
authors.forename: Christopher G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Beevers
authors.forename: Ivan W
authors.initials: IW
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006760:Hospitalization; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D011584:Psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014743:Videotape Recording