Comparing the effectiveness of supportive-expressive and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy on depression in hemodialysis patients

The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of supportive-expressive and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy on depression in hemodialysis patients.

This clinical trial conducted on hemodialysis patients who attended a private dialysis treatment center in 2014-2015. Among them, 45 patients selected and randomly assigned into 2 experimental groups and a control group. The experimental groups underwent supportive-expressive or cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy (Ten 45-minute sessions, once a week); but the control group did not receive any treatment. Beck depression II questionnaire was used to collect information. Data analysis was performed in two descriptive and inferential sections (analysis of covariance) using SPSS software.

The results of covariance analysis showed that supportive-expressive and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy are reducing depression in hemodialysis patients significantly (P<0.01). The effects of supportive-expressive treatment in short-term (pretest-posttest) and long-term were 15.73 and 19.07 points respectively. The effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy were 9.93 in the short term and 10.67 in the long term. Finally, comparing the profiles showed that the average of short-term and long-term effects in supportive-expressive treatment is higher than cognitive-behavioral therapy.

Based on the results, it seems that supportive-expressive therapy is more effective than cognitive-behavioral therapy to improve depressive symptoms in hemodialysis patients.