Effectiveness of Group Cognitive - Behavioral Therapy on Reducing Depression

The present research was done with the aim of determining the effectiveness of group Cognitive – Behavioral therapy on reducing depression and its subscales (emotional symptoms, cognitive symptoms and physical symptoms) among the wives of the martyrs in the city of Tehran. First, 200 wives of the martyrs were randomly selected from among the wives of the martyrs who had referred to the counseling center of the Foundation of Martyrs and the questionnaire of depression was administered on them. The subjects whose level of depression was higher than the average level were determined and from among them 60 people were randomly chosen and later they were divided into two equal groups and from these two groups, by drawing one group was selected as the experimental and the other was selected as the control group. In the pretest stage, the questionnaire was administered on the subjects and the experimental group was placed under training, i.e. group cognitive-behavioral therapy, while the control group received no such therapy. In the posttest stage, the questionnaire of depression was carried out on both groups and one month later, the follow up stage was administered. Findings revealed that training group cognitive-behavioral therapy was effective on decreasing depression on the wives of the martyrs in Tehran. Findings also indicated depression among the experimental group and in the follow up stage they enjoyed necessary constancy. It is concluded that the group cognitive-behavioral therapy has considerably diminished depression among the wives.