2002 International International Biennial Scientific Meeting

EDITED HIGHLIGHTS - THE PROGRESS OF THE BRIEF INTERVENTION

Claire Lamplugh and Philip Boyce

Department of Psychological Medicine, Nepean Hospital, University of Sydney

LampluC@wahs.nsw.gov.au

With an estimate that 10 -15% of women will suffer from postnatal depression, and the advent of more effective screening programmes, the need for increased treatment resources is becoming ever more critical.

Currently randomised controlled trials have demonstrated the efficacy of a number of treatments including non-directive counselling, interpersonal psychotherapy, cognitively oriented counselling as well as antidepressant medication. Studies have also demonstrated that people from non-psychological backgrounds can be trained to effectively administer these interventions (particularly the cognitively oriented interventions). The impact of these results leads to the potential of broadening the skills base of a number of clinicians enabling easier access to treatment.

However, these manual based treatment packages tend to involve the women receiving all aspects of a treatment programme rather than those specifically targeted to their current concerns and vulnerabilities. Within the "Brief Intervention" we are proposing that a briefer form of therapy could be developed that could be practically applied by clinicians with some training.

It is proposed that through the use of a basic formulation process clinicians can be guided to tailor interventions more closely to the individual thereby reducing the number of sessions required.

In this paper further arguments for the use of a briefer intervention will be outlined, results from a pilot study will be presented and plans for a further evaluation process will be discussed.