Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2014 Mar;109(3):394-406.
doi: 10.1111/add.12441. Epub 2014 Jan 16.

Treatment of comorbid alcohol use disorders and depression with cognitive-behavioural therapy and motivational interviewing: a meta-analysis

Heleen Riper  1 , Gerhard Andersson, Sarah B Hunter, Jessica de Wit, Matthias Berking, Pim Cuijpers
Affiliations
Review

Treatment of comorbid alcohol use disorders and depression with cognitive-behavioural therapy and motivational interviewing: a meta-analysis

Heleen Riper et al. Addiction. 2014 Mar.

Abstract

Background and aims: To review published studies on the effectiveness of combining cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and motivational interviewing (MI) to treat comorbid clinical and subclinical alcohol use disorder (AUD) and major depression (MDD) and estimate the effect of this compared with usual care.

Methods: We conducted systematic literature searches in PubMed, PsycINFO and Embase up to June 2013 and identified additional studies through cross-references in included studies and systematic reviews. Twelve studies comprising 1721 patients met our inclusion criteria. The studies had sufficient statistical power to detect small effect sizes.

Results: CBT/MI proved effective for treating subclinical and clinical AUD and MDD compared with controls, with small overall effect sizes at post-treatment [g=0.17, confidence interval (CI)=0.07-0.28, P<0.001 for decrease of alcohol consumption and g=0.27, CI: 0.13-0.41, P<0.001 for decrease of symptoms of depression, respectively]. Subgroup analyses revealed no significant differences for both AUD and MDD. However, digital interventions showed a higher effect size for depression than face-to-face interventions (g= 0.73 and g=0.23, respectively, P=0.030).

Conclusions: Combined cognitive-behavioural therapy and motivational interviewing for clinical or subclinical depressive and alcohol use disorders has a small but clinically significant effect in treatment outcomes compared with treatment as usual.

Keywords: Alcohol use disorders; cognitive-behavioural therapy; comorbidity; major depression; meta-analysis; motivational interviewing; randomized controlled trials; treatment effect.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow-chart of study inclusion
Figure 2
Figure 2
Depression: cognitive-behavioural therapy/motivational interviewing (CBT/MI) versus control
Figure 3
Figure 3
Alcohol: cognitive-behavioural therapy/motivational interviewing (CBT/MI) versus control
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Schuckit MA. Comorbidity between substance use disorders and psychiatric conditions. Addiction. 2006;101:76–88. - PubMed
    1. Boschloo L, Vogelzangs N, Smit JH, Van den Brink W, Veltman DJ, Beekman AT, et al. Comorbidity and risk indicators for alcohol use disorders among persons with anxiety and/or depressive disorders: findings from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA) J Affect Disord. 2011;131:233–242. - PubMed
    1. Swendsen JD, Merikangas KR. The comorbidity of depression and substance use disorders. Clin Psychol Rev. 2000;20:173–189. - PubMed
    1. Grant BF, Stinson FS, Dawson DA, Chou SP, Dufour MC, Compton W, et al. Prevalence and co-occurrence of substance use disorders and independent mood and anxiety disorders: results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2004;61:807–816. - PubMed
    1. Jane-Llopis E, Matytsina I. Mental health and alcohol, drugs and tobacco: a review of the comorbidity between mental disorders and the use of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs. Drug Alcohol Rev. 2006;25:515–536. - PubMed

MeSH terms