Dataset Information

One year follow-up and mediation in cognitive behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy for adult depression.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Existing therapies for depression are effective, but many patients fail to recover or relapse. To improve care for patients, more research into the effectiveness and working mechanisms of treatments is needed. We examined the long-term efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), testing the hypothesis that CBT outperforms ACT and that both therapies work through their designated mechanisms of change.

Methods

We conducted a randomized controlled trial with 82 patients suffering from MDD. Data were collected before, during and after treatment, and at 12-month follow-up, assessing symptoms of depression, quality of life, dysfunctional attitudes, decentering, and experiential avoidance.

Results

Patients in both conditions reported significant and large reductions of depressive symptoms (d = -?1.26 to -?1.60) and improvement in quality of life (d = 0.91 to -?1.28) 12?months following treatment. Our findings indicated no significant differences between the two interventions. Dysfunctional attitudes and decentering mediated treatment effects of depressive symptoms in both CBT and ACT, whereas experiential avoidance mediated treatment effects in ACT only.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that CBT is not more effective in treating depression than ACT. Both treatments seem to work through changes in dysfunctional attitudes and decentering, even though the treatments differ substantially. Change in experiential avoidance as an underlying mechanism seems to be an ACT-specific process. Further research is needed to investigate whether ACT and CBT may work differently for different groups of patients with depression.

Trial registration

clinicaltrials.gov; NCT01517503 . Registered 25 January 2012 - Retrospectively registered.

SUBMITTER: A-Tjak JGL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7807695 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

One year follow-up and mediation in cognitive behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy for adult depression.

A-Tjak Jacqueline G L JGL Morina Nexhmedin N Topper Maurice M Emmelkamp Paul M G PMG

BMC psychiatry 20210114 1

<h4>Background</h4>Existing therapies for depression are effective, but many patients fail to recover or relapse. To improve care for patients, more research into the effectiveness and working mechanisms of treatments is needed. We examined the long-term efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), testing the hypothesis that CBT outperforms ACT and that both therapies work through their designated mechanisms of c ...[more]

PMID: 33446152

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Project description:Psychological interventions have a long history of successful treatment of patients suffering from mental health and certain medical conditions. At the same time, psychotherapy research has revealed key areas of growth for optimizing patient care. These include identifying novel treatment delivery methods that increase treatment adherence, developing new strategies to more effectively address the ever-growing population of patients with comorbid conditions, and elucidating the mechanisms by which effective treatments work in order to further refine their design. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is an empirically supported psychotherapy that offers promise for patients suffering from a wide range of mental and physical conditions, while addressing these gaps and challenges in the field. ACT rests on the fundamental premise that pain, grief, disappointment, illness, and anxiety are inevitable features of human life, with the therapeutic goal of helping individuals productively adapt to these types of challenges by developing greater psychological flexibility rather than engaging in counterproductive attempts to eliminate or suppress undesirable experiences. This is achieved through committed pursuit of valued life areas and directions, even in the face of the natural desire to escape or avoid painful and troubling experiences, emotions, and thoughts. ACT is transdiagnostic (applies to more than one condition), process-focused, and flexibly delivered. In a relatively short period of time, ACT has been effectively implemented across a broad range of therapeutic settings, including mental health, primary care, and specialty medical clinics. ACT has also been delivered in a variety of formats, including 1-day group workshops, online and smartphone applications, and telehealth. Focus on how best to package and deliver treatment to meet the unique needs of different patient populations helps to ensure treatment adherence and has fostered successful application of ACT for patients in everyday clinical settings.

Dataset Information

One year follow-up and mediation in cognitive behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy for adult depression.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Trial registration

Publications

One year follow-up and mediation in cognitive behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy for adult depression.

Similar Datasets

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