Time-intensive behavioural activation for depression.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Is time-intensive behavioural activation effective at reducing depression symptomatology: a multiple-baseline design.
IRAS ID
196839
Contact name
Sarah Miles
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Holloway University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Depression is the biggest cause of disability in the world. Depression often returns when you have had it before, and it causes huge costs to many lives, the NHS and world spending. Research suggests that treating depression by doing activities that make us feel driven to keep busy (behavioural activation, BA) can help. Research also shows that when trying to get better, working with patients’ thoughts is less important that working with depressed patients’ behaviours. Behavioural activation is seen as a treatment that more patients could accept as it is easily understood. Behavioural activation would also cost less to provide than other treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy (that work with thoughts as well as behaviours).
Some research suggests that treating mental illnesses in a shorter amount of time, rather than across weekly sessions for example for sixteen weeks, can increase patients' enthusiasm about their treatment, bring about rapid recovery and lead to cheaper treatment. Existing studies investigating time-intensive (condensed) behavioural activation as a treatment for depression are few, and are limited by errors in their procedures. Yet, time-intensive BA’s investigation is worth following, especially within settings where depression commonly presents. Therefore, this study proposes to begin answering the question “Is time-intensive behavioural activation effective at reducing depression symptoms”, while also addressing limitations to previous studies.
Ten patients, from three different adult mental health outpatient settings in the UK, who have all been found to have depression, will receive behavioural activation over a 3 week period instead of the usual 12 to 16 week period. Levels of patients’ depression symptoms will be compared before and after treatment to see if condensing treatment works. Based on previous findings, it is expected that the intervention will be effective at significantly reducing depression symptoms in participants, and that the effect will last a long time.
REC name
London - Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/0485
Date of REC Opinion
13 Apr 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion