The effectiveness of psychodrama on depression and general health of major depressed patients under pharmacotherapy

Psychodrama is a kind of art therapy when is conducted as a form of group therapy,then helps a person to find an appropriate solution and applies it in his/her life through imagery and role-playing the problem with the feedback of members of group rather than talking it merely. The aim of present study was to determining the effect of psychodrama on depression and general health of the male patients with major depression. This research is a quasi-experimental studyconsists of experimental and control groups with pretest-posttests design. The populations of the study wereall male inpatients with severe depression in psycho-neurological ward at lavasani hospital. Twenty four inpatients were randomly selected andassignedtoexperimental (n=12) and control (n=12)groups. Patients in theexperimentalgroupunderwent 10sessions psychodrama included in 3 phases; preparation, enactment, and behavioral rehearsal. Participants were assessed on Beck Depression Inventory and Goldberg General Health Questionnaire. Data were analyzed through analysis ofcovariance and Wilk’s lambda tests. Findings of the studysuggest that psychodrama intervention decreased the symptoms of depression and increased general health, especially in two subscales;severe depression and social functioning of experimental patients in comparison with control group.