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COMPETITIVE MEMORY TRAINING ( COMET ) FOR TREATING LOW SELF‐ESTEEM IN PATIENTS WITH DEPRESSIVE DISORDERS: A RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL
Author(s) -
Korrelboom Kees,
Maarsingh Maaike,
Huijbrechts Irma
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
depression and anxiety
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.634
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1520-6394
pISSN - 1091-4269
DOI - 10.1002/da.20921
Subject(s) - comet , randomized controlled trial , depression (economics) , psychopathology , medicine , mood disorders , mood , intervention (counseling) , clinical psychology , psychology , anxiety , psychiatry , physics , astrophysics , economics , macroeconomics
Background Self‐esteem is a major concern in mood disorders. Low self‐esteem is a symptom of depressive disorders and is considered by some to be a predictor for relapse, whereas high self‐esteem seems to buffer against depression. Recently, C ompetitive M emory T raining ( COMET ) has shown to be effective for the enhancement of self‐esteem in several psychopathological conditions. The current study assesses whether COMET is also an effective intervention for patients with depressive disorders. Methods Sixty‐one patients with depressive disorders who were already in therapy in an outpatient mental health institution were randomly assigned to either eight group sessions of COMET in addition to their regular therapy ( COMET + therapy as usual [ TAU ]: the experimental group) or to 8 weeks of ongoing regular therapy ( TAU only: the control group). These latter (control) patients received COMET after their TAU only period. All patients in both groups that completed COMET were contacted 3 and 6 months later to assess whether the effects of COMET had remained stable. Results Compared to the patients who received TAU only, patients in the COMET + TAU condition showed significant improvement with large effect sizes on indices of self‐esteem, depression, and depressive rumination. The therapeutic effects of COMET + TAU remained stable after 3 and 6 months on all outcome measures or improved even further. Conclusion COMET for low self‐esteem seems to be an efficacious trans‐diagnostic intervention that can relatively easily be added to the regular treatment of patients with depressive disorders. Depression and Anxiety 29:102–110, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.