Effect of group cognitive-behavior therapy intervention on dysthymic disorders in children and adolescents

Abstract

Objective To explore the effect of group cognitive-behavior therapy intervention on dysthymic disorders in children and adolescents. Methods From July 2015 to December 2017, 68 cases of children and adolescents treated in Lishui Second People's Hospital were divided into two groups randomly. The study group (34 cases) were treated with group cognitive-behavior therapy, and the control group (34 cases) were treated with selective 5-hydroxytryptamine reuptake blocker (SSRI). The achenbach child behavior check list(CBCL), self-rating depression scale(SDS) and self-rating anxiety scale(SAS) scores of the two groups before and after the intervention were compared. Results Before the intervention, there was no difference in the score of CBCL, SDS and SAS between the study group and the control group (P>0.05). After drug treatment or cognitive-behavior therapy, the social, activity, thinking and aggressive behavior of both groups were obviously improved. The SDS and SAS scores were 43.64±4.86 and 42.27±3.74 in cognitive-behavior therapy group, which had significant difference (P<0.05) compared with pre-intervention score of SDS (82.91±3.95) and SAS (78.61±6.28). The scores of SDS (45.61±8.03) and SAS (44.09±7.04) in treatment group were significantly (P<0.05) decreased compared with those before treatment (84.03±5.11 and 77.30±9.55, respectively). The satisfaction of the study group and control group was 94.1% and 67.6%, respectively, and the difference was significant between the two groups(P<0.05). Conclusion The effect of cognitive-behavior therapy in children and adolescents on reducing the negative emotion is remarkable, which is equivalent to the drug treatment.The cognitive-behavior therapy in children and adolescents can be used as a auxiliary means to treat children's dysthymic disorders in clinical practice. Key words: Cognitive-behavior therapy in groups; Children; Adolescents; Dysthymic disorder