Activity and subsequent depression levels: a causal analysis of behavioral activation group treatment with weekly assessments over 8 weeks.

Activity and subsequent depression levels: a causal analysis of behavioral activation group treatment with weekly assessments over 8 weeks. Clin Psychol Psychother. 2020 Jan 24;: Authors: Hoyer J, Hoefler M, Wuellhorst V Abstract Research on behavioral activation (BA) for depression assumes that increasing the rate of rewarding activities leads to reduced depressive mood. While the efficacy of BA treatment has been convincingly demonstrated, assumptions referring to the mechanisms underlying this effect have not been tested decisively yet. The Behavioral Activation Scale for Depression (BADS) and the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI) were administered over 8 weeks in 161 reliably diagnosed patients with unipolar depression who underwent BA treatment in groups. Time-lagged associations between behavioral activity on depression at subsequent assessment (1 week later) and vice versa were modeled a) with multilevel models and b) with dynamic panel models that eliminate shared constant factors and allow for reverse causation (e.g. depression affecting subsequent activation in the model for activation on depression). Both activation and depression changed significantly (model-based within effect sizes for activation = .70 and for depression = -.75). Higher activation and lower depression predict each other over time (mixed-effects, time-lagged model), but this association disappears in dynamic causal models. Change patterns were only anal...
Source: Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Clin Psychol Psychother Source Type: research