EFFICACY OF PSYCHODRAMA THERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH SEVERE MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDERS: A RANDOMIZED PILOT STUDY.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of psychodrama psychotherapycompared with treatment-as-usual for patients diagnosed with severe major depressive disorder(MDD) in an inpatient setting. The sample included 30 patients with severe unipolar depression,randomly divided into a study group (N=15) participating in a psychodrama intervention inaddition to the routine hospital protocol and a control group (N=15) participating only in theroutine hospital protocol. Clinical assessment was performed with the Beck DepressionInventory (BDI-II), the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and the ZungSelf-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). The results of the study showed a decrease in depressive andanxiety symptoms as measured by MADRS, BDI and SAS, and this decrease was significantlygreater for the psychodrama intervention group. Limitations of the present study, as well asimplications for clinical treatment and research, are discussed.