Effect of cognitive-behavioral group therapy on depression of the patients with chronic low back pain: A 4-months follow up

Various researches showed that depression is a key modifiable risk factor in maintaining of low back pain. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral group therapy on depression reduction of the patients with chronic low back pain. In an experimental study including pre-test, post-test, and following up the control group, thirty-five patients with diagnosis of low back pain compliance randomly selected in clinical centers of one, two and three regions of Tehran and randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. All subjects completed depression subscale of the depression anxiety stress scales (DASS) in three phases of pre-test, post-test and follow-up. Cognitive-behavioral group therapy carried out on the experimental groups 8 sessions once a week. The results of variance analysis with repeated measurements showed that cognitive-behavioral group therapy significantly reduced the depression mean scores of the experimental groups as compared to the control group (P<0.05). According to the findings, cognitive-behavioral group therapy is an effective method in decreasing depression in patients with chronic low back pain.