Hostname: page-component-54dcc4c588-smtgx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-09-11T10:56:49.871Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Wisdom psychotherapy in adjustment disorders. Results of a randomized controlled study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 August 2025

M. Linden*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Charité University Medicine Berlin, BNerlin, Germany

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Introduction

Wisdom is a capacity which is needed to cope with difficult situations in life. Wisdom can be trained like other capacities. Wisdom psychotherapy has been developed as a method of cognitive behavior therapy to help patients who are stuck in negative life experiences, or confronted with unsolvabale dilemmas.

Objectives

Test the efficacy of wisdom psychotherapy in patients with adjustment disorders.

Methods

patients with adjustment disorders (>18 on the ADNM8 scale) were randomly assigned to group wisdom therapy (WT: N=114), or group behavioral activation therapy (BA: N=109). Additionally a matched group of patients was build, which were not included in any study procedures but underwent routine treatment only (RT: N=114). Wisdom was measured with the Multidimensional Wisdom Competency Scale (MWC15).

Results

There was an increase on the MWC15 of 5.3 in the wisdom group as compared to 0.4 in the activation group and 0,2 in the routine group. This is statically sigificant in the pre-post comparison and in the time/goup interaction (F4,42, p=0,13). The ADNM8 score, the SCL90 GSI, the BDI score decreased, with a trend for more side effects in the wisdom than the activity group.

Conclusions

The results confirm that wisdom psychotherapy can make a difference in the improvement of wisdom capacities. Wisdom therapy, different from other psychotherapies, does not aim at increasing hedonic or symptom free wellbeing but rather eudaimonic wellbeing in order to teach patients to live a decent and successful life.

Disclosure of Interest

None Declared

Information

Type
Abstract
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of European Psychiatric Association
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.