RESUMO
Objective: Mindfulness skills are assumed to be related with emotions. Deficits in emotion regulation could lead to development and persistence of mood disorders. Dysthymia and double depression are two chronic types of depression. This chronicity can be attributed to the one's inability to regulate his/ her mood. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of mindfulness- based cognitive therapy (MBCT), which is one of the proposed methods for emotion regulation, on depression and the ability of emotion regulation of patients with dysthymia. Method: This clinical trial was conducted on 50 dysthymic and double depressed patients. They were selected through convenience sampling and assigned into intervention and control groups. The control group received only medication, while the MBCT group participated in an eight- session program once a week with each session lasting for two to two and half hours in addition to receiving medication. All the participants filled out Beck Depression Inventory II and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale before and after the program. Data were analyzed using the SPSS statistical software (Version 16) and univariate covariance statistical method. Results: While there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups with respect to the demographic characteristics, we observed a statistically significant improvement in the defined variables in post-test of the MBCT group compared to the case group. Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that combining MBCT and pharmacotherapy could cause significant improvement in depression symptoms and increase the patient's ability to regulate emotion compared to pharmacotherapy alone .
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Dysthimia in adults is a chronic depression disorder which is characterized by a mild depression for at least 2 years. Remarkable psycho-social involvements, greater disturbances in psycho-social functions compared to other forms of depression and lack of definite findings about preferred treatment for this disorder led us to evaluate the effectiveness of Mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT) method adjunct to pharmacotherapy compared with pharmachothrapy alone in treating dysthymia in this thesis. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on a chronic type of depression disorder called dysthymia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study is a clinical trial of an interventional method which was carried out on dysthymic and double depressed patients who had referred to psychiatric clinics of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. In doing so, 50 patients above the age of 18 were selected through convenience sampling and assigned into intervention and control groups. The control group only received medications while the intervention group in addition to receiving medication, participated in 8 sessions of a mindfulness based cognitive therapy course which was held once a week and each session lasted for 2 to 2.5 hours. All the participants filled out Beck Depression Inventory II and five facet mindfulness questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the SPSS statistical software (version 16) and univariate covariance and independent t test statistical methods. RESULTS: In this study, no statistically significant differences were found between the two groups regarding the demographic characteristics. The mean difference between the two groups was statistically significant for the variables in post-test considering the pre-test. The experimental group participants showed significant improvement in terms of the defined variables; a trend which was not observed in the control group participants. CONCLUSION: The results of this study show that adding MBCT to pharmacotherapy in treatment of dysthymic patients can cause significant improvement in depression symptoms and mindfulness skills in patients compared to pharmacotherapy alone.
