Comparison between Cognitive-behavioral Therapy and Psychoeducational Therapy on Blood Sugar Control in Depressed Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Clinical Trail

Diabetes mellitus type 2 is an endocrine disease. Recently, it has been found that the risk of depression is nearly two fold in diabetic patients. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of cognitive-behavioral therapy and psychoeducational interventions on the levels of depression and blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Of 180 diabetic patients referred to Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran, 60 patients were selected for clinical trial study, and assigned to three groups, including cognitive-behavioral therapy, psychoeducational therapy, and control. The levels of depression and blood sugar were respectively, assessed using Beck depression inventory-II (BDI-II) test and HbA1C measurement. Data analysis was performed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey's tests.

The post-test levels of depression and HbA1C were significantly different among cognitive behavioral therapy, psychoeducational therapy, and control groups (p=0.0001). The Tukey’s test revealed a statistically significant difference in post-test depression between cognitive-behavioral therapy and psycho-educational therapy groups (p=0.0001), and also between cognitive-behavioral therapy and control groups (p=0.0001). There was no significant difference in post-test HbA1C between cognitive-behavioral therapy and psychoeducational therapy groups; however, there were significant differences between the control group and each of the cognitive-behavioral therapy and psycho-educational therapy groups (p=0.0001).

The result of the present study showed that the cognitive-behavioral therapy was successful in the treatment of depression in patients with diabetes type 2.