Comparison of Positive Psychotherapy and Cognitive-Behavioral Psychotherapy for Depression

October 8, 2015 updated by: Mag. Linda Maria Furchtlehner, University of Salzburg

Evaluation of the Positive Psychotherapy to Reduce Symptoms and to Promote Happiness With Depressive Patients Compared to Cognitive-Behavioral Psychotherapy

This study evaluates the effects of the Positive Psychotherapy on depressive symptoms and on happiness compared with regular cognitive behavioral therapy.

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Positive Psychotherapy (PPT) focuses on increasing well-being and positive emotions rather than ameliorating deficits in contrast to standard psychotherapy.

A lack of positive emotions, engagement and felt meaning are typically viewed as consequences or mere correlates of depression, while the PPT suggests that these may be causal for depression. Therefore building positive emotion, engagement and meaning will alleviate depression.

Thus PPT may offer a new way to treat and prevent depression.

The aim of this study is to compare the effects of the Positive Psychotherapy on depressive symptoms, life satisfaction and happiness in comparison to standard cognitive behavior psychotherapy (regular cognitive behavioral therapy).

60 mildly to moderately depressed patients are randomly assigned to the Positive Psychotherapy group or the regular cognitive behavioral therapy group.

Both treatments (primary intervention group and control group) are conducted in an outpatient group therapy setting with 14 sessions and a duration of 2-hours-per-week in small groups of 6 or 7 patients.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

60

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Austria
      • Salzburg, Austria, 5020
        • Beratungsstelle für Klinische Psychologie, Psychotherapie und Gesundheitspsychologie
    • Upper Austria
      • Linz, Upper Austria, Austria, 4020
        • Wagner-Jauregg- Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 60 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Clinical diagnosis of Depression (Major depressive disorder, recurrent: mild to moderate; Major depressive disorder, single episode: mild to moderate; Dysthymic disorder)
  • Patients should be between age 18 and 60

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Any current treatment for depression
  • Substance related or alcohol related disorder (within the last 12 months)
  • Panic disorder
  • Manic or hypomanic disorder
  • Psychotic disorder * refusal to participate in a 14 weeks psychotherapy treatment

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Positive Psychotherapy
Experimental Group (Positive Psychotherapy)
Behavioral: Positive Psychotherapy

The Positive Psychotherapy Group Treatment was developed by Martin Seligman and Tayyab Rashid (2013) and consists of 14 weekly group sessions of 2 hours. The strictly manualized program includes the following components:

positive orientation and introduction, character strengths, signature strengths, good vs. bad memories, forgiveness, gratitude, satisficing vs. maximising, meaningful life, posttraumatic growth, hope and optimism, positive communication, signature strengths of others, savouring and slowness, altruism and the last session is about the integration of all these components to the "full life".
Active Comparator: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Active Control Group (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)
Behavioral: Cognitive behavioral therapy
This well-established, cognitive-behavior group therapy was developed by Schaub, Roth and Goldmann (2006) and consists of 12 weekly group sessions of 2 hours. The strictly manualized program includes the following components: education, building up activities, cognitive restructuring, relapse prevention. Moreover, there are 2 sessions added to the standard program: one session concerning savouring and the other one concerning stress reduction. Thus the whole program consists of 14 sessions.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Depressive symptoms (measured by a self-report questionnaire)
Time Frame: fourteen weeks
The depressive symptoms will be assessed by a self - report questionnaire: the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) which consists of 21 items
fourteen weeks
Depressive symptoms (measured by an assessment by others)
Time Frame: fourteen weeks
The depressive symptoms will also be measured by an assessment by others: the Montgomery Asberg Depression Scale (MADS) which consists of 10 items
fourteen weeks
Happiness (measured by a self-report-questionnaire)
Time Frame: fourteen weeks

Happiness will be assessed by a self-report-scale:

the Flourishing-Scale (FS) which consists of 8 items
fourteen weeks
Happiness (measured by a self-report questionnaire)
Time Frame: fourteen weeks
Happiness will be assessed by an additional self-report-questionnaire which consists of 25 items: the Positive Psychotherapy Inventory (PPTI)
fourteen weeks
Life satisfaction (measured by a self-report questionnaire)
Time Frame: fourteen weeks
Life-Satisfaction will be measured by a self-report-questionnaire consisting of 5 items: the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)
fourteen weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Clinical Symptoms
Time Frame: fourteen weeks
Apart from depression also other clinical symptoms will be assessed by a self-report-scale with 53 items: the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI)
fourteen weeks
Life events
Time Frame: six months
Also life events will be assessed which happened during the last 6 months before starting the treatment and during the treatment
six months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Salzburg

Collaborators

The Wagner-Jauregg Provincial Neuropsychiatric Clinic

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Anton-Rupert Laireiter, Univ.-Prof.Dr., Paris Lodron University of Salzburg

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

May 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

May 1, 2016

Study Completion (Anticipated)

July 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 15, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 8, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

October 9, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

October 9, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 8, 2015

Last Verified

October 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • USalzburg

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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