Comparing the Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Motivational Interviewing on Depression in Divorced Women

Divorce, as one of the most important social phenomena, has many psychological  complications, among which is depression. Continuity of depression can affect a person's quality of life. Hence, it is necessary to adjust and treat these complications through various psychotherapies. As such, the aim of this research was to compare the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy and interviewing on divorced women’s depression.

The current study used a semi-experimental pre-test and post-test design. The statistical population consisted of 260 divorced women aged between 20 to 50. Sixty of the aforementioned women were selected based on the inclusion criteria and then randomly assigned to three groups of cognitive-behavioral therapy, motivational interview therapy, and control group. The instrument for data collection was Reyes and Patterson's Anxiety Sensitivity Questionnaire. For the experimental groups, 12 treatment sessions of 75 minutes were held. Before the interventions and at the end of the study, people in all groups filled out the depression questionnaire. Data were entered into the SPSS software version 25 and then were analyzed.

There was a significant difference between the three groups of cognitive-behavioral therapy, motivational interview, and the control group in the comparison of the mean score of depression variables (p<0.05). Also, there was a significant difference in the post-test stage (p<0.05) in the one-by-one comparison of the cognitive-behavioral therapy and motivational interview therapy groups with the control group.

The findings indicate that cognitive-behavioral therapy and motivational interviewing are effective in reducing depression in divorced women. It is suggested to use this method along with other psychological and pharmaceutical interventions in order to reduce depression in divorced women as a clinical intervention.