Short term, time limited cognitive behavioral therapy of major depression with Vietnamese refugee women: An analysis of three cases.

摘要

This study examines the effects of short-term, time limited individual cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) approach for treating Major Depression with three Vietnamese refugee women. The researcher utilized Judith Beck's cognitive style and modified it to make it more culturally sensitive in the treatment of depressed Vietnamese refugee women at an outpatient mental health clinic in California. These three women participated in eight, 60 minute sessions of ICBT session for eight consecutive weeks with the researcher. The participants completed three quantitative measures: the Vietnamese Depression Scale (VDS; Kinzie et al., 1982), the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R; Derogatis, 1977) Somatization subscale, and the Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale (SL-ASIA; Suinn, Rickard-Figueroa, Lew, & Vigil, 1987) before and after ICBT treatment. Results of pre- and post-treatment scores on the VDS, SCL-90-R Somatization subscale, and the SL-ASIA revealed that ICBT was an effective therapeutic approach in the treatment of depression for these participants. All three participants reported a decrease in depressive symptoms on the VDS at posttreatment and a decrease in somatic symptoms of depression on the SCL-90-R Somatization subscale at posttreatment. At the conclusion of eight sessions of psychotherapy, each participant indicated that they would have benefited from more than eight sessions. Indeed, two of the participants did continue in psychotherapy after the researcher terminated with them. Furthermore, two of the three participants reported an increase in acculturation level on the SL-ASIA at posttreatment. Level of acculturation has been found to be associated with clinical symptomatology (Arce, 1982), utilization of psychotherapy resources (Szapocznick, Santisteban, Kurtines, Hervis, & Spencer, 1982), and self-rating of acculturation. Qualitative data which include the participants' experiences in ICBT and their evaluation of the effectiveness of ICBT on the Post-Treatment Questionnaire (PTQ; developed by the researcher) revealed that the participants benefited from ICBT. Strengths and shortcomings of ICBT with this population were critically evaluated. Suggestions for future clinical and empirical investigation were made.