A Comparison of Three Methods of Drug, Cognitive and Behavior Therapy in Reducing Depression Among Adolescents
Subject Areas : Educationalاصغر آقایی 1 , مرضیه رفیعیان اصفهانی 2 , حمیدرضا نیکیار 3 , ایران مهدیزادگان 4
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Keywords: behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, and depression in adolescents, drug therapy,
Abstract :
This study was quasi-exprerimental and the purpose was to compare the effectiveness of three methods of drug, cognitive, and behavior therapy in the reduction of depression in adolescents. The subjects in this research were depressed adolescents aged to referred to two counseling centers in Isfahan. The depressed were those who had acquired a score of or more on Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and diagnosed as depressed by psychologists and psychiatrists according to DSM-IV-IR criteria. Sixty of the above-mentioned subjects were randomly assigned to four groups of drug, cognitive, behavior therapy and control. The instruments for this research were psychological assessment, beck's Depression Inventory and Demography Questionnaire. Beck's Depression Inventory was used as the pre and post-test. The drug group received anti-depression drugs such as SSRIs (Fluoxetine, Fluvoxamine, Sertraline) or other drug combinations with increased Lithium with effective doses. The two of cognitive and behavior groups therapy took part in seven sessions of hours structured instruction and practice. The control group received no treatment. The variables, age, sex, education and economic status of the subjects were controlled. To analyze the data, percentages, mean, standard deviation and distribution tables were used. As for inferential statistics, covariance analysis and LSD follow-up test were used to compare the groups in pairs. The results indicated that the post-test of depression showed a significant difference between the four groups (P = ). However, there was a significant difference between the means depression of each group and the control group (P = ). The effect of each therapy was as follows: drug therapy percent, cognitive therapy percent, and behavior therapy percent. Finally, the results showod that drug, cognitive and behavior therapy were-effective in the reduction-of depressionin adolescents.