Preliminary studies suggest that early life stress/trauma and excessive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity correlates with antidepressant response to cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in major depressive disorder.
Stress-related measures were correlated with antidepressant response to a 12-week course of once-weekly CBT in 50 currently depressed MDD outpatients.
As a measure of baseline hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity, 24-hour urinary cortisol levels did not correlate with CBT’s antidepressant efficacy.
A personal history of early life parental loss or separation survived correction for multiple comparisons as a positive predictor of CBT response.
Other forms of early life stress/trauma and perceived early life stress did not correlate with CBT’s antidepressant efficacy.