Comparison of the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy with behavioral activation therapy on psychological hardiness in depressed individuals

Severe emotional, social and economic stress of depressive disorder for patients, family and community on the one hand and the increasing annual prevalence in the general population plus suicide as a catastrophic consequence of depression is still at the forefront of mental health issues. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy and behavioral activation therapy on psychological hardiness in depressed individuals.

According to the purpose of this research, it was quasi-experimental applied research with pretest and post-test with two experimental groups and a control group. The statistical population of the study included all people with depression in Babol who referred to psychotherapy clinics in Babol in 2022. From the above statistical population, at first, 50 people who obtained a moderate to high score in the Beck Depression Inventory were randomly selected, and in the next stage, according to Cohen's formula, 45 of these 50 people were divided into 3 groups of 15 (2 experimental groups and one the control group were randomly assigned to answer the Ahvaz Psychological Hardiness Questionnaire Kiamarsi, Najarian and Mehrabizadeh. The results were analyzed by Spss 26 software.

The results showed that the main effect of behavioral behavioral therapy and behavioral activation was significant (P <0.001). Behavioral and 55% of the changes are due to the effect of behavioral activation intervention. Also, there is no significant difference between the effect of two methods of behavioral methodology and behavioral activation on psychological hardiness (p <0.248) and both treatments have a similar effect on psychological hardiness.

According to the findings, it is concluded that cognitive behavioral group therapy and behavioral activation can be effective in improving the psychological toughness of depressed people.