Computer-administered therapy for depression

Abstract

We performed a randomized controlled study to evaluate computer-based cognitive behavioral therapy in 36 patients who met Research Diagnostic Criteria for major or minor depression. Patients were randomly assigned to the computer, to a therapist, or to a control group placed on a waiting list. As determined by three measures of depression (the Beck inventory, the Hamilton rating scale, and the Symptom Checklist-90-R), both treated groups had improved significantly more than the control group at the end of the treatment period and 2 months later. The treated groups did not differ from each other at either time.