title: The Role of Staging in Planning Psychotherapeutic Interventions in Depression.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of this critical review is to examine the role of staging in planning a psychotherapeutic intervention in depressive disorders.
  
  
  METHODS
  English-language studies concerned with staging in depressive disorders were identified in MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Web of Science and by manual search of the literature. Selection of articles was based on their methodological quality and implications for clinical practice.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Staging may allow clinicians to apply a psychotherapeutic intervention to specific phases of the development of depressive disorders: certain psychotherapeutic approaches, such as well-being therapy and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, appear to be uniquely suited for addressing the residual phase of depression, whereas interpersonal psychotherapy has been mainly tested in the acute phase. Cognitive-behavioral treatment appears to be suitable for all phases, but with chronic or double depression, its modifications (eg, cognitive-behavioral analysis system of psychotherapy) appear to be indicated. Staging may also allow clinicians to assess past and potential resistance to treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Treatment options, including psychotherapy, need to be filtered by clinical judgment and patient-specific problems that take into account individual staging classifications of the depressive illness.
authors.affiliation: Affective Disorders Program, Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guidi
authors.affiliation: Affective Disorders Program, Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tomba
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Fiammetta
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cosci
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Seung K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat, 5, 40127 Bologna, Italy. giovanniandrea.fava@unibo.it.|Affective Disorders Program, Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.|Department of Psychiatry, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Giovanni A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Fava
mesh_terms: D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards