How can we study the ‘quality of psychoanalytic treatments’? The authors attempt to answer this question by discussing a naturalistic, multi‐perspective and representative follow‐up study of psychoanalyses and long‐term psychoanalytic psychotherapies. We studied a representative sample (n = 401) of all the patients who had terminated their psychoanalytic treatments with members of the German Psychoanalytical Association (DPV) between 1990 and 1993. Between 70 and 80 per cent of the patients achieved (average 6.5 years after the end of treatment) good and stable psychic changes according to the evaluations of the patients themselves, their analysts, independent psychoanalytic and non‐psychoanalytic experts, and questionnaires commonly applied in psychotherapy research. The evaluation of mental health costs showed a cost reduction through fewer days of sick leave during the seven years following the end of long‐term psychoanalytic treatments. The results achieved using non‐psychoanalytical instruments are complemented by the richness of the idiosyncratic findings, gained by the psychoanalytic research instruments.

Ré sultat d'une thé rapie psychanalytique et cognitivocomportementale à long terme chez des patients souffrant de dé pression chronique : un essai contrô lé avec allocation pré fé rentielle et randomisé e

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BackgroundDespite limited effectiveness of short-term psychotherapy for chronic depression, there is a lack of trials of long-term psychotherapy. Our study is the first to determine the effectiveness of controlled long-term psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral (CBT) treatments and to assess the effects of preferential vs. randomized assessment.Methods/designPatients are assigned to treatment according to their preference or randomized (if they have no clear preference). Up to 80 sessions of psychodynamic or psychoanalytically oriented treatments (PAT) or up to 60 sessions of CBT are offered during the first year in the study. After the first year, PAT can be continued according to the ‘naturalistic’ usual method of treating such patients within the system of German health care (normally from 240 up to 300 sessions over two to three years). CBT therapists may extend their treatment up to 80 sessions, but focus mainly maintenance and relapse prevention. We plan to recruit a total of 240 patients (60 per arm). A total of 11 assessments are conducted throughout treatment and up to three years after initiation of treatment. The primary outcome measures are the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptoms (QIDS, independent clinician rating) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) after the first year.DiscussionWe combine a naturalistic approach with randomized controlled trials(RCTs)to investigate how effectively chronic depression can be treated on an outpatient basis by the two forms of treatment reimbursed in the German healthcare system and we will determine the effects of treatment preference vs. randomization.Trial registrationhttp://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN91956346

This paper proposes a newly designed system for baggage transfer, which utilises the Nexus Metro system in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne by running a pendulum freight train system between the Haymarket and Newcastle Airport to carry travellers' baggage. This system is capable of serving all passengers departing from Newcastle Airport in a day, with a capacity of 9750 bags across 26 freight train journeys. Following the initial solution two more solutions were designed with the aim of maximising the utilisation of the metro tracks by saturating the system with freight trains on a 24-h system. All solutions have been replicated using models designed and validated by event-based simulation using SIMUL8, a simulation modelling software package.