Effect of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) on Depressed Female University Students in Karachi

Abstract

Problem statement of the study was to explore the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral interventions, including cognitive restructuring, psycho-education or re-education and guided discovery techniques on depressive or low mood symptoms of young females aged between 18 to 25 years.Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) on depressive symptoms of female university students in Karachi, Pakistan. In Pakistan more Scientist Practitioners who practice evidence based therapies are needed. The present study was planned within this scientist practitioner model of clinical research and practice. Method: The study sample comprised of 50 female university students, who came to seek help from students counselling centre at a well known University in Karachi, Pakistan. The in- campus counsellors were qualified clinical psychologists trained in cognitive behavioral therapeutic interventions. Within group experimental research design was used to assess the levels of depression before and after therapeutic sessions in experimental group and comparison between experimental and control group was also checked quantitatively. Hypotheses: It was hypothesized that cognitive behavioral therapy will alleviate depression in depressed female university students. It was also assumed that females receiving cognitive behavioral interventions would score low on the Physician Depression Questionnaire (PDQ-9, U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, 2009) as compared to those females receiving no interventions. The students who consented to participate and fulfilled suitability criteria for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) were offered to participate in trial. Students were randomly distributed into intervention and control groups. Assessments were to be carried out at baseline and end of therapy sessions. Individual, face to face therapy was offered to participants following a structured manual of CBT by Naeem, Kingdom (2010). The total program comprised of 12 sessions, these sessions were offered over the period of 12 weeks.Findings and Conclusion Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for the statistical analysis of the data. The hypotheses were significant at p<0.05.This indicates that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is effective with depressed female university students in Karachi.