Citalopram and metacognitive therapy for depressive symptoms and cognitive emotion regulation in patients with major depressive disorder: A randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Metacognitive therapy (MCT) is a new psychotherapy for depression. This study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of citalopram and MCT on major depressive disorders (MDDs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 36 patients with MDD were randomly assigned into three groups of citalopram (n = 12), MCT (n = 16), and control (n = 8). MCT group received ten sessions of metacognition therapy. Citalopram group received 20-40 mg citalopram, and the control group did not receive any interventions. Outcomes were measured using the Beck Depression Inventory-II, Metacognition Questionnaire-30, and Cognitive-Emotion Regulation (CER) Questionnaire. Data were analyzed with ANCOVA using SPSS version 18. RESULTS: Depression score reduction was significant in both citalopram and metacognitive groups (P < 0.05). However, there was only a statistically significant difference between MCT and control group in CER and metacognition. CONCLUSION: MCT and citalopram both are effective in symptom reduction in MDD. Furthermore, MCT could lead to more improvement in metacognition, depression symptoms, and CER than citalopram, when treating MDDs.