Richard Pione

I’m a clinical psychologist who runs a psychology service that operates in the space between primary and secondary care talking therapies services.

Project Title: Development and Preliminary Evaluation of a Novel Psychotherapy for Depression for Clients with a Complex Trauma Background (ADepT-CT)

Brief Summary: Depression is an often severe, chronic and relapsing condition. While effective psychological treatments for depression exist, a substantial proportion of individuals do not recover during them. A particular subgroup of clients who do not optimally benefit from current treatments for depression (and often fall in the gap between services) are those exposed to complex trauma during childhood. A novel therapy called Augmented Depression Therapy (ADepT) has been developed to treat depression in primary care settings that has promise for working with this group. In a pilot trial, ADepT was shown to not be inferior and potentially superior to current best practice (cognitive behavioural therapy), particularly in those presenting with severe symptoms.

Benefits anticipated: 

To determine acceptability/ feasibility of a novel psychotherapy for patients with ‘treatment resistant’ depression and a background of trauma.  

Award Title: Individual Research Career Development Award

Start Date: April 2023

End Date: March 2024

Location of Research: Thurrock, Essex

Collaborating Organisation:  Midlands Partnership Foundation University Trust