Effectiveness of cognitive therapy on depression in epileptic patients

Epilepsy is the most common neurological system disorder in the world. Many epileptic patients experience psychological problems the most common of which is depression. One of the methods that nowadays is considered for depression treatment and prevention of relapse is cognitive-therapy. The purpose of this research was to determine the efficacy of cognitive therapy on depression in epileptic patients.. This research was an experimental study which was done on 40 epileptic patients (20 interventions and 20 control) with mild to moderate clinical depression diagnosed by Beck Depression Inventory. The people selected had the required conditions to enter the study based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The data collecting instrument was Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Researchers used this instrument for depression in both the intervention and control groups before and after intervention during cognitive therapy sessions (10 sessions of 45 min weekly) for intervention group. The data were analyzed by a SPSS version 18. Analysis of the data showed that the mean scores of Beck in intervention group after cognitive therapy from 36/950±5/296 to 30/200±6/614 decreased significantly (p<0/01). But was insignificant in control group. The results indicated that cognitive-therapy with focus on dysfunctional attitudes related to epilepsy is remarkably effective as a complementary therapy in the reduction of co-morbid depression in epileptic patients.