Integrating psychodrama and cognitive behavioral therapy to treat moderate depression

Abstract

The aim of the study is to compare the effects of psychodrama integrated with cognitive behavioral therapy and cognitive behavioral group therapy in the treatment of depression. Thirty-one university students with moderate depression participated in this study. After the participants were randomly assigned to and control groups, group therapies were conducted for 11 sessions over a period lasting nearly 3 months. The control group received no treatment. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ) and the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS) were administered to the participants at three different occasions: pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 6-month follow-up. A 3 × 3 ANOVA was used to examine the effectiveness of the treatments. The results indicated that both psychodrama integrated with cognitive behavioral therapy, and cognitive behavioral group therapy alone, led to reduction in the level of depression, negative automatic thoughts, and dysfunctional attitudes of participants. However, there were no significant differences between the two treatments in terms of their effectiveness.