Short-term psychodynamic psychotherapies can benefit common mental disorders

There was a significantly greater improvement in the groups of people who received short-term psychodynamic psychotherapies (STPP) versus the control groups (wait-lists, treatment as usual or minimal treatment), both in the short term (<3 months after treatment) and medium term (3–6 months after treatment). These benefits generally appeared to increase in the long term. However, some results did not remain statistically significant in the long term. Although cost comparisons were not made in this review, it should be noted that these therapies were relatively short and much less expensive than long-term psychotherapy models. STPP might represent an economical approach to problems as complex as chronic pain, personality disorder, panic disorder, self-induced poisoning and other challenging-to-treat conditions.