Effectiveness of Motivational Psychotherapy on Depression in Adolescents

Abstract

Background: The present study investigated the effects of motivational psychotherapy on depression in adolescents. Methods: This quasi-experimental study utilized a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The research population consisted of all female students of the second grade of high schools in Birjand city in the academic year of 2022 - 2023. Thirty participants were randomly selected and allocated to the experimental and control groups. The intervention was performed on the experimental group for 12 weeks, while no intervention was performed on the control group during this period. One week after the sessions, the posttest was performed on both groups. Beck Depression Inventory (1961) was used to collect data and covariance analysis to analyze them. Results: The mean age was 17.23 in the experimental group. The analysis of variance showed that motivational psychotherapy had a significant effect on reducing depression in teenagers. Conclusions: These results emphasize the importance and effectiveness of motivational psychotherapy and can open a new way for psychotherapists to conceptualize and treat psychological disorders.