The following is a summary of “Imagery rescripting and cognitive restructuring for inpatients with moderate and severe depression – a controlled pilot study,” published in the March 2024 issue of Psychiatry by Kanczok, et al.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to assess the effectiveness of combining cognitive restructuring (CR) and imagery rescripting (IR) compared to standard inpatient care (SIC) with moderate and severe depression.

They included 33 inpatients with moderate and severe depression in addition to the SIC program. Inpatients were randomly divided into an intervention group (receiving two sessions of IR and CR) and an active treatment-as-usual (TAU) control group (receiving two sessions of problem-solving and build-up of positive activity). Depression severity was evaluated using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-21 (HDRS-21), the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), and daily step count measured by the Fitbit Charge 3^TM. Analyses were conducted using 2 × 2 repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) for HDRS-21 and BDI-II, and an asymptotic Wilcoxon test for step count.

The results showed that the main effect of time on both treatments was significant, with an η² value of 0.402. Based on the data from the HDRS-21, patients in the intervention group achieved significantly greater improvements over time than the TAU group, with an η² value of 0.34. However, the BDI-II data did not reveal a significant interaction effect by group (η² =0.067). Additionally, the daily hourly step count for participants in the intervention group was significantly higher (r =0.67) than that for the control group.

Investigators concluded that results back imagery-based interventions for depression and suggest a potential for fitness trackers in monitoring.

Source: bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-024-05637-y