Group Therapy for Depression: The Coping with Depression Course

Abstract

In this paper we describe the Coping with Depression course as it has been offered at the University of Oregon Depression Research Unit since 1979. The Coping with Depression course is a multimodal, psychoeducational group treatment for unipolar depression. The major vehicle for treatment is a course, i.e., an explicit educational experience; it is called a course because it teaches people techniques and strategies for coping with the problems that are assumed to be related to their depression. Specifically, the course addresses several target behaviors (social skills, thinking, pleasant activities, and relaxation) plus more general components hypothesized to be critical in successful cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression. The psychoeducational framework allows for active outreach; a wide variety of depressed persons who might not otherwise seek treatment are excellent candidates for such a course. The approach is often seen to be not as stigmatizing as traditional therapy, and the group format makes it more affordable. The Coping with Depression (CWD) course has been offered to over 300 depressed people. The efficacy of the course has been evaluated in a number of treatment-outcome studies [ 1 -3] , 1 and additional research is still in progress.2 3 It is quite clear that as a group, those who participate in this course show marked improvement, in terms of both self-reported depression level and interviewer-rated diagnosis, and that these changes are maintained for at least six months after treatment.

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