Investigating the Effectiveness of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) on Quality of Life and Mental Health in Depressed Women

Depression is one of the most common mental disorders, often associated with decreased quality of life and deteriorated mental health, particularly among women, who exhibit a higher prevalence rate compared to men. Given the prominent emotional and interpersonal components of depression, employing therapies that target unconscious conflicts and repressed emotions is of great significance. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) on the quality of life and mental health of women with depression. This study was a quasi-experimental design with a pretest-posttest and control group structure. A sample of 30 women with mild to moderate depression was selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (15 participants in each group). The research instruments included the WHOQOL-BREF Quality of Life Questionnaire and the GHQ-28 General Health Questionnaire. The experimental group received twelve 90-minute sessions of ISTDP. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), controlling for pretest scores. The results indicated that the post-test mean scores of quality of life in the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group (p = 0.001), while the mental health scores significantly decreased (p = 0.002). The effect sizes for both variables were reported as high (Eta² > 0.30). Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy can be considered an effective approach for improving quality of life and enhancing mental health in women with depression. The findings of this study underscore the necessity of expanding the use of in-depth, emotion-focused approaches in mental health services.