If depression makes it harder for some unemployed people to find a job, one type of therapy may help, research suggests. In a new study, 41% of the unemployed or underemployed who underwent cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) found a new job or moved from part-time to full-time work at the end of 16-week treatment for depression.
Those who had a job but found it difficult to focus on and complete work tasks because of depression, said the treatment helped significantly reduce these problems.
“Researchers have largely focused on showing that therapy relieves symptoms of depression,” said Daniel Strunk, study co-author and professor of psychology at Ohio State University.
“But reducing symptoms isn't the only goal people have when they start CBT. Many hope to find a job or improve their productivity at their current job. Here we discovered that therapy can also help people achieve these goals.”
Strunk conducted the study with Iony Ezawa and Graham Bartels, who were Ohio State graduates when the study was conducted. This study involved 126 people who took a 16-week course of CBT at the Ohio State Depression Treatment and Research Clinic.
CBT teaches coping skills that help patients counteract and adjust their negative beliefs, Strunk said.
"It works on the idea that people with depression invariably have these overly negative views of themselves and their future," he said.
“For example, if an unemployed patient doesn't get one job they interviewed for, they might think 'nobody will ever hire me'.”
In this study, 27 patients attempted to improve their work status (get a job or move from part-time to full-time) at the start of treatment. Eleven of them (41%) had passed at the end of the 16 weeks.
“It's hard to say exactly how good this success rate is, as we don't know how many would have gotten a job without the treatment,” said Strunk.
“But the findings were encouraging and suggest that the CBT has an impact.”
CBT had a clear impact on those who were employed and reported at the start of treatment that depression impaired their effectiveness.
“Working patients reported at the end of treatment that they were much more successful in concentrating and performing tasks at work,” he said.
The findings showed that one way CBT had this effect was by reducing patients' "negative cognitive style," or the extent to which patients view negative events in too pessimistic a way, Strunk said.
“CBT helps patients overcome these beliefs by teaching them that the experience of depression is not their fault and that they can take steps to improve their concentration and accomplish work more successfully, even if they are experiencing depressive symptoms,” said Strunk.
