Based on the best available evidence, it would appear that some forms of brief psychological treatments, particularly those derived from cognitive/behavioural models, are beneficial in the treatment of people with depression being managed outside hospital settings. Little can be said about the efficacy of different types of individual versus group therapy because all the trials comparing these formats used cognitive therapy or behavioural therapy. In these trials, greater efficacy for individual formats was suggested.
Baseline severity, the methods used to identify patients and possibly the number of sessions offered are factors likely to affect outcome. Little can be said about the potential impact of socio-demographic characteristics of patients, the specific effects of client motivation and therapeutic alliance, any potential adverse events associated with psychological treatments, the short- and long-term outcomes of psychological treatments, the differential effects of alternative models, particularly PDT and client-centred therapies, or the immediate and long-term economic consequences attached to the provision of psychological treatments in primary care.