Depression and self-esteem: an investigation that used behavioral and cognitive approaches to the treatment of clinically depressed clients

Abstract

Investigated the relative effectiveness of the behavioral and cognitive approaches to the treatment of depression using clinically depressed clients and the relationship between self-esteem and depression before and after treatment. Sixteen depressed patients matched for sex, age, and levels of depression were involved. Ss were assigned to either the cognitive or the behavioral treatment groups. Three weeks' baseline followed by 8 weeks' treatment programme was given to Ss in each group. The results of the statistical analysis show that both treatment groups are effective in alleviating depression, but the cognitive treatment group improved at a faster rate than the behavioral group. No significant correlation between self-esteem and depression was observed at baseline. However, a significant inverse correlation was observed at posttreatment and follow-up. The findings showed that both behavioral and cognitive approaches were effective in the treatment of depression. However, the cognitive approach was slightly better than the behavioral approach.