The Effect of Cognitive Group Therapy on Reducing Depression in Prisoners Based on Michael Ferry's Method

Since depression is recognized as one of the most common mental disorders from which a large number of people are suffering, various therapeutic methods are introduced for its treatment. The main purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of Michael Ferry’s method of cognitive group therapy in reducing the depression in male prisoners. Using Beck Depression Scale, the researchers diagnosed 16 male prisoners kept in psychotherapy section of Ghom Central Prison as having moderate and severe depression disorders. After the subjects were divided randomly into experimental and control groups, each consisting of 8 subjects (n=8), twelve cognitive group therapy sessions, each lasting ninety minutes was held for the experimental group based on Ferry’s method. Then both groups completed Beck Depression Scale as the post test. The results of the study showed significant difference between the mean of the post test scores of these two groups. Therefore, it could be concluded that cognitive group therapy was effective in reducing depression in male prisoners based on Ferry’s method