Appendix B: Search Strategy

Inclusion Criteria

  1. Randomized controlled trials (RCT)
  2. Patients were ≥18
  3. Patients recruited from outpatient general medical or mental health clinics
  4. Patients were not required to have a specific medical condition (e.g., multiple sclerosis) to participate
  5. Patients hadnot remitted or responded significantly to anti-depressant medication after ≥ 6 wks
  6. Patients were not in psychotherapy treatment at the time of enrollment
  7. Treatment included one of the following psychotherapy modalities: Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Interpersonal Psychotherapy, Solution Focused Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Acceptance Commitment Therapy, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy
  8. Patients did not have comorbid psychiatric conditions where guidelines recommend mental health specialty care (e.g., high suicidality, substance abuse, borderline personality disorder)
  9. Articles were in the English language
  10. The following databases searched between inception of database to September 7, 2010
  11. PubMed/Medline
  12. Embase
  13. PsycInfo
  14. Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials

a. Pubmed

Search Terms / Results
1 / "Depressive Disorder"[Mesh] OR (major AND depression) / 71993
2 / ((problem-solving OR interpersonal OR dialectical behav* OR acceptance OR commitment OR mindfulness) AND (therapy OR psychotherapy)) OR "Psychotherapy"[Mesh] OR "Behavior Therapy"[Mesh] / 229441
3 / "Combined Modality Therapy"[Mesh] OR Drug resistant[Mesh] OR additive OR augmentation OR augment* OR relaps* OR recurrent OR refractory OR resistant OR persisten* OR treatment failure[Mesh] / 1147546
4 / randomized controlled trial[Publication Type] OR (randomized[Title/Abstract] AND controlled[Title/Abstract] AND trial[Title/Abstract]) / 275228
5 / #1 AND #2 AND #3 AND #4 / 422
6 / Limits: Humans, English, All Adult: 19+ years / 346

b. Embase

Search Terms / Results
1 / exp depression/ or (major and depression).mp. / 209344
2 / ((problem solving or interpersonal or dialectical behav* or acceptance or commitment or mindfulness) and (therapy or psychotherapy)).mp. or exp psychotherapy/ / 118752
3 / (combined modality therapy or multimodal treatment*).mp. or exp drug resistance/ or additive.mp. or augmentation.mp. or augment*.mp. or relaps*.mp. or recurren*.mp. or refractory.mp. or resistan*.mp. or persisten*.mp. or exp treatment failure/ / 1314872
4 / (randomized and controlled and trial).mp. or randomized controlled trial.pt. / 296840
5 / 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 / 510
6 / limit 5 to (human and english language and (adult <18 to 64 years> or aged <65+ years>)) / 294

c. PsycInfo

Limits: English Language; Peer Reviewed; Language: English; Age Groups: Adulthood (18 yrs & older); Population Group: Human; Exclude Dissertations; Human; Age Related: All Adult: 19+ years; Publication Type: Randomized Controlled Trial; Languages: English

Search Terms / Results
Combined Modality Therapy or Drug resistant or additive or adjunct or augment* or relaps* or refractory or resistant or persisten* or treatment failure / 23183
Depressive Disorder or ( major AND depression ) / 37802
(problem solving or "Behavior Therapy" or interpersonal or dialectical behav* or acceptance or commitment and (therapy OR psychotherapy) and Psychotherapy) / 52084
(#1 and #2 and #3) / 219

d. Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials

Search Terms / Results
#1 / depressive disorder or (major and depression) / 11133
#2 / (problem-solving or interpersonal or dialectical behav* or acceptance or commitment or mindfulness) and (therapy or psychotherapy) / 4405
#3 / MeSH descriptor Psychotherapy explode all trees / 11136
#4 / MeSH descriptor Combined Modality Therapy explode all trees / 13454
#5 / MeSH descriptor Drug Resistance explode all trees / 4807
#6 / MeSH descriptor Treatment Failure explode all trees / 2236
#7 / additive or augment* or relaps* or recurren* or refractory or resitan* or persisten* or treatment failure / 69682
#8 / (#1 AND ( #2 OR #3 ) AND ( #4 OR #5 OR #6 OR #7 )) / 783
#9 / random* / 388241
#10 / (#9 AND #8) / 743
Limit to Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials portion of Cochrane Library / 490