Effect of supportive psychotherapy on efficacy and quality of life in elderly patients with depression

Objective To study the effect of supportive psychotherapy on efficacy and quality of life in elderly patients with depression .Methods A total of 106 cases of elderly patients with depression were selected and randomly divided into the intervention group and the control group , each with 53 cases.Both groups received conventional antidepressant , and the control group received traditional nursing guidance while the intervention group received supportive psychotherapy for 8 weeks.HAMD and SF-36 were used to evaluate efficacy and quality of life in both groups after treatment .Results After 8 weeks of intervention , the total score of HAMD was（5.3 ±2.2）in the intervention group and （8.2 ±2.8）in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant （t=5.724 3,P<0.01）.The cure rate was 54.9%in the intervention group and 31.9%in the control group, with statistically significant difference （χ2 =5.248 4,P<0.05）.Scores of all dimensions in SF-36 were also higher in the intervention group than in the control group , in which the score of body pain , general health, social function and mental health was respectively （13.7 ±3.3）, （8.5 ±1.2）, （8.6 ±3.3）, （5.6 ±2.0）in the intervention group and （6.3 ±2.4）,（4.3 ±0.9）,（3.7 ±1.0）,（3.3 ±0.8）in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant （t=12.603 5,19.470 4,9.771 1,7.357 8, respectively;P<0.05）.Conclusions The supportive psychotherapy is helpful to improve the efficacy and quality of life of elderly patients with depression . Key words: Geriatric; Supportive psychotherapy; Depression; Efficacy; Quality of life