The Effectiveness of Mindfulness, Logotherpy and Behavioral Activation Treatment on Negative Automatic Thoughts and Depressed Female Students' Attention

The current study aims to determine the difference between mindfulness, logotherpy and behavioral activation treatment on negative automatic thoughts and depressed female students' attention.

The method was quasi-experimental with pre-test design, post-test and procedure with a control group. The population in the current study including female students in B.A who referred to Omid-e-Mehr consulting center in 1398 upon a call and 60 participants were selected by sampling and divided into 4 groups based on homogenization. The participants responded to Beck Depression Inventory (1961), Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire by Hollon and Kendall (1980) and D2 Test Attention by Brickenkamp (1981) in three stages of Pre-test, post-test and procedure. The experimental groups received 8 sessions of mindfulness treatment, 10 sessions of logotherapy and 10 sessions for behavioral treatment. To analyze the data, mixed analysis, SPSS software and the significance of 0/05 were exploited.

In the current study, the effect of interventions on negative automatic thoughts was reduced (P= 0/001). Time effect caused a reduction in negative automatic thoughts to the pretest stage (P= 0/001). The interaction effect of time among the groups made an alleviation in negative automatic thoughts (P= 0/001) compared with the experimental group. Interventions had a rising effect on attention (P= 0/001). Time effect caused a rise in attention to the pretest stage (P= 0/001). The interaction effect of time among the groups increased the attention (P= 0/001) compared with the experimental group.

It was indicated that all three approaches of mindfulness treatment, logotherapy and behavioral activation treatment are effective by targeting one aspect of depression on negative automatic thoughts and attention in depressed females.