Changing the way people think is key to overcoming depression, according to a new Ohio State study.
Results of the study showed that patients suffering from moderate to severe depression showed more improvement when treated using a cognitive approach as opposed to behavioral treatment or medication.
“In the past few years, there has been a lot of interest in behavioral treatments for patients with more severe depression,” said Dr. Daniel Strunk, OSU psychology professor and co-author of the study. “But our results showed that cognitive treatment was causing patients to show more improvement.”
Cognitive treatment consists of getting patients to focus on their thoughts and become aware and skeptical of negative thoughts, Strunk said.
“What we think happens is that people really buy into these pessimistic kinds of views,” Strunk said. “We try to get them to wonder if (these views) are really true.”
Behavioral therapy focuses on identifying and modifying behaviors of patients to improve depression symptoms.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a combination of the two therapies. Studies have shown that it is just as effective in treating depression as medication. What is unknown is whether it is cognitive or behavioral treatments that are more effective.
“It’s not to say that behavioral therapy isn’t effective,” Strunk said.
Strunk partnered with Melissa Brotman of the National Institute of Mental Health and Robert DeRubeis of the University of Pennsylvania on the study. The results are published in Behaviour Research and Therapy.
According to the study report, 60 patients who had been diagnosed with depression were randomly assigned to two different university clinics and either received cognitive therapy, medication or a placebo. They were treated by one of six therapists.
To indicate the severity of depression symptoms from session to session, patients self-reported using the Beck Depression Inventory-II.
Therapy sessions were taped and evaluated by trained raters to determine how much each therapist relied on behavioral or cognitive treatments.
The research has important implications for the future of therapy and will continue to be built on, Strunk said. “It helps us to understand what is important and most effective in the course” of therapy.
