Cognitive-behavioral group intervention as a means of tertiary prevention in depressed patients : Acceptance and short-term efficacy

This paper describes the implementation and evaluation of the Coping with Depression (CWD) course in a sample of patients, who were pretreated for clinical depression on a psychiatric in- or outpatient basis. Based on a psychoeducational approach, the CWD integrates elements of cognitive-behavior therapy, which have proven effective in dealing with problems associated with the development and maintenance of depression, such as relaxation, training of social skills, increasing pleasant activities, and constructive thinking. The present results suggest that, through a process of self-selection, the program appealed especially to those patients, who still displayed extensive depressive symptoms after discharge or who had experienced an early relapse into the depressive episode. By strictly matching CWD participants and nonparticipants on illness-related characteristics at pretreatment, it was found that the group intervention was mainly effective in preventing short-term relapses during the 6-month period under treatment.