Dialectical Behavioral Therapy in a Group Method on Mindfulness and Interpersonal Skills of Female Students with Depression

Depression is one of the most common psychiatric disorders that does not belong to a specific time and place. In this regard, studies have shown that the academic course is due to the presence of several factors of a period of pressures that is likely to occur in the case of an officer. Researchers reported a high prevalence of depression among students (ranged from 10 to 64%). Considering that depression as a disorder can cause personal, familial and social inappropriate complications among students. For examples depressed mood, lack of pleasure, severe loss of interest, weight loss and appetite, sleep disturbances, restlessness or slowness, mental retardation, fatigue, energy loss, guilty feelings, inefficiency, lack of concentration, doubtfulness, recurrence of thoughts about death or suicide, family conflicts, and occupational dysfunctions. It is necessary to intervene in reducing these symptoms. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of dialectical behavioral therapy in a group way on the mindfulness and interpersonal skills of female students with depression. 

The study was a semi–experimental study with pre–test and post–test with control group. The statistical population of the study consisted of all female students of Islamic Azad University of Najafabad city (Isfahan province, Iran) who studied in the academic year of 2017–18. The target group was selected through a Beck depression inventory in a targeted sampling method and was replaced in two experimental groups (n=15) and control (n=15). The experimental group was in dialectical behavioral therapy for 8 sessions of 90 minutes. The Beck depression scale (1961) with a reliability coefficient of 0.86, the five–factor mindfulness scale, Baer et al. (2006) with a reliability coefficient of 0.92, and interpersonal skills scale (2004) with a reliability coefficient of 0.71, were used to collect the data. For both groups, pre–test and post–test were used. Data were analyzed using covariance analysis at a significance level of p<0.05. In order to study the assumptions of covariance analysis, Levine test was used to examine the equality of error of variance in two groups. 

Results of homogeneity of variances showed that Levin's test was significantly more than 0.05 in mindfulness scores, and interpersonal skills. According to this assumption, the homogeneity of error variances in the studied groups realized. Regression line tilt homogeneity also supports non–significant interaction of conditions and pre–test. Results showed that dialectical behavioral therapy was effective in improving mindfulness (p=0.018) of female students with depression but did not affect their interpersonal skills improvement. In addition, dialectical behavioral therapy was applied to all subscales of mindfulness including observation (p=0.027), alertness (p=0.008), description (p=0.006), and non–reactivity (p=0.033) and Non–judgmental (p=0.04) and it was effective.

Based on findings of this study, dialectical behavioral therapy could be used to improve the mindfulness of female students with depression, but they have not been effective in improving their interpersonal skills. Therefore, this intervention could be used as an effective treatment for the improvement of depression symptoms and help improve the condition of people with depression.