Short-term Psychodynamic Supportive Psychotherapy (KPSP)

Short-term Psychoanalytic Support Psychotherapy (KPSP) is a psychoanalytic treatment for people who suffer from chronic or recurring mood complaints and vulnerabilities in the personality. The emphasis is on achieving improvement in the present, but together with your therapist you will also investigate which obstructive experiences from the past influence this. This gives you more insight into yourself, which also leads to better recognition of undermining thoughts, unprocessed emotions and negative expectations that contribute to gloomy feelings.

Goal of KPSP
The goal of KPSP is in the first place that the mood complaints disappear. But since KPSP is not only focused on the symptoms, the way in which someone looks at themselves and others often changes during treatment, which improves vulnerability to mood complaints in the longer term.

Duration and frequency
The therapy consists of 25 sessions that are given biweekly in the first 4 weeks (8 sessions), then weekly (9 sessions), and every other week for the last 2 months. The treatment lasts 8 months.

Method
We will explore your mood complaints and symptoms and we will explore whether there is a connection with your life circumstances, your relationships with others and the relationship you have with yourself. Together we look at whether changes are possible in your feelings, thoughts and behavior towards others and towards yourself. In the final phase, we pay attention to recognizing a relapse in time and what to do if so.

Factsheets
KPSP-25
KPSP-50

Proven effective
KPSP has proven to be an effective treatment for depression with and without personality problems in five high-quality scientific studies. The effect of KPSP is better than treatment with medication alone and comparable to other proven effective treatments for depression such as IPT and CBT. The effectiveness of KPSP has been demonstrated by the following studies:

• Driessen, E., Van, H.L., Don, F.J., Peen, J., Kool, S., Westra, D., et al. (2013). The efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Psychodynamic Therapy in the outpatient treatment of major depression: a randomized clinical trial. American Journal of Psychiatry (Am J Psychiatry 2013; 170:1041–1050)
• De Jonghe, F.E.R.E.R. (2005). Short and Powerful. [Short and Sweet]. Amsterdam: Benecke N.I.
• De Jonghe F, Hendriksen M, van Aalst G, Kool S, Peen J, Van R, van den Eijnden E, Dekker J. Psychotherapy alone and combined with pharmacotherapy in the treatment of depression. Br J Psychiatry 2004; 185: 37- 45.
• De Jonghe, F.E.R.E.R., de Maat, S., Van, H.L., Hendriksen, M., Kool, S., van Aalst, G., Schoevers, R.A., & Dekker, J. (2013).  Short-term Psychoanalytic Supportive Psychotherapy for depressed patients. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, in Press.