The evaluation of cognitive-behavioral group therapy on patient depression and self-esteem.

We evaluated the impact of cognitive-behavioral group therapy on the depression and self-esteem of clinically depressed patients. This longitudinal study involved 26 experimental group patients who received 12 weeks of cognitive-behavioral group therapy and 25 comparison subjects. Two weeks before the study, immediately upon therapy completion, and 1 month later, all the participants underwent pretest, posttest, and follow-up, respectively. The experimental group patients experienced greater cognitive improvements (i.e., depression relief, self-esteem increase) as compared with the comparison group subjects. One month after therapy completion, the depressive symptoms and self-esteem of the experimental group patients remained slightly but significantly better than those of the comparison group subjects.