Brief psychological therapies for emotional disorders in primary care: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Brief psychological therapies might be a solution for the treatment of emotional disorders in primary care. We aim to determine the effectiveness of these therapies compared with medication. Studies were selected from the Medline, Embase and PsycInfo databases. Eligibility criteria included adults with emotional disorders treated with 2–10 psychotherapeutic sessions provided in primary care. We analyzed 33 trials involving 3868 patients following PRISMA. A moderate effect size favorable to brief therapies was found at post-treatment (d = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.21 to 0.52) but this was not maintained at follow-up. The main limitation was the heterogeneity among the studies. We conclude that brief therapies could be superior to pharmacological interventions for the treatment of emotional disorders. These findings support their implementation in primary care. Prospero ID: CRD42019119910.