Leichsenring, Falk;
Abbass, Allan;
Fonagy, Peter;
Levy, Kenneth;
Lilliengren, Peter;
Luyten, Patrick;
Midgley, Nick;
(2025)
Psychodynamic therapy can be adapted to and implemented in non-western cultures – a comment on the WHO treatment guideline for mental disorders.
Zeitschrift für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie
(In press).
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Abstract
The WHO recently issued updated the guidelines for treating mental health conditions in low- and middle-income countries, emphasizing evidence-based manual-guided psychotherapeutic treatments. As a limitation, these recommendations predominantly endorse cognitive-behavior therapy for both adults and young people. In a comment, we emphasized that the WHO overlooked the significant evidence supporting other therapeutic approaches, including but not limited to psychodynamic therapy. The WHO responded to our comment in a reply by Carswell and colleagues. However, several statements made by the authors are debatable. In this short communication, we critically address these statements, showing that they are not tenable. As a conclusion we emphasize that is necessary to embrace a broader array of empirical supported therapeutic methods to elevate the overall quality and efficacy of global mental health care. High-quality psychotherapy research in low- and middle-income countries is required, focusing not only on the narrow area of symptoms, but transdiagnostically on general psychopathology and psychosocial functioning, which are areas addressed in psychodynamic therapy.
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