Abstract
This study is the sixth of a series of seven and belongs to the second Italian systematic replication of findings from previous series that investigatedthe effectiveness of a manualized transactional analysistreatment for depressionthrough Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design.The therapist was a white Italian woman with 10 years of clinical experience and the patient, Beatrice, was a 45-year old white Italian woman who attended sixteen sessions of transactional analysis psychotherapy. Beatrice satisfied DSM 5 criteria for Major Depressive Disorder, Anxious Distress, with Dependent and Histrionic Personality Traits. The judges evaluated the case as a good outcome: the depressive and anxious symptomatology clinically and reliably improved over the course of the therapy and these improvements weremaintained throughoutthe duration of thefollowup intervals. Furthermore, the patient reported significant change in her post-treatment interview and these changes were directly attributed to the therapy.
 Citation - APA format:
 Benelli, E., Vulpiani, F., Cavallero, G., Calvo, V., Mannarini, S., Palmieri, A. and Zanchetta, M. (2018). TA Treatment of Depression: A Hermeneutic Single-Case Efficacy Design Study - Beatrice. International Journal of Transactional Analysis Research & Practice, 9(2), 42-63 https://doi.org/10.29044/v9i2p42
Highlights
Quantitative Data Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item for depression (PHQ-9), GAD-7 and CORE-OM were administered in the pre-treatment phase in order to obtain a three-point baseline, and during the three follow-ups, whereas Personal Questionnaire (PQ) was first administered in session 0C
Affirmative Conclusion Beatrice’s depression, anxiety, global distress and personal problems were related to difficulties in emotions, self-esteem and interpersonal patterns, such as staying with a man even if their relationship was not satisfying for her anymore, not understanding nor listening to her needs and emotions and letting others decide them for her, acting and deciding according to strong, impulsive and not thoughtful emotions, and to finding out that she was not able to have biological children
Sceptic conclusion Beatrice asked for therapy with moderate depression, which reached a reliable and subclinical symptomatology already in session 4 after having broken up with her partner, and might have been due to an adjustment disorder, so improvements might not be attributed to therapy
Summary
Previous publications have widely described the rationale for supporting by HSCED the accumulation of evidences of efficacy and effectiveness for those models of psychotherapy that are emerging or marginalized (Benelli, De Carlo, Biffi & McLeod, 2015) and how this is important for recognition of TA and inclusion within the acknowledged treatments for common mental disorders (i.e., depression, anxiety and personality disorders) (Widdowson 2012a, 2012b, 2012c, 2013, 2014; Benelli, 2016a, 2016b, 2016c, 2017a, 2017b, 2017c). The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the manualised TA treatment of depression (Widdowson, 2016) applied to a major depressive disorder in comorbidity with anxious distress. The present study analyses the treatment of ‘Beatrice’, a 45-year-old Italian woman with diagnosis of major depressive disorder in comorbidity with anxious distress, dependent and histrionic personality disorder The quantitative primary outcomes investigated were depressive and anxious symptomatology, the secondary outcomes were global distress and client-generated personal problems, which were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively.
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