The Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Approach in Alleviation of Depression, Anxiety and Stress Risks in Diabetic People

Stress, anxiety, and depression affect the diabetic patient by causing symptomatic changes. Considering the destructive effects of psychological symptoms on the health status of diabetic people, our aim was to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in improving the psychological outcomes of diabetic patients.

This trial is a quasi-experimental type that uses a pretest-posttest design with a control group. A total of 62 people were selected based on the inclusion criteria and randomly divided into two experimental and control groups. All subjects in the intervention group underwent CBT training twice a week for eight sessions, while those in the control group did not receive this intervention. Before and following the intervention, the depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS-42) was utilized to evaluate the psychological symptoms of all participants. The data were analyzed through analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and SPSS-23 software.

There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of age, gender, marital status, parenthood, and education level (P > 0.05, n = 30 in each group). Additionally, there was no significant difference between the mean DASS-42 scores before the intervention (P > 0.05). However, after the intervention, the experimental group exhibited reduced levels of depression, anxiety, and stress compared to the control group (P < 0.001). The values of Eta for depression, anxiety, and stress subscales were equal to 0.809, 0.669 and 0.776, respectively, which means that 80.9%, 66.9%, and 77.6% of the changes in these symptoms in the experimental group are related to the training received through the CBT approach.

It can be concluded that diabetic patients who suffer from psychological symptoms can benefit from the CBT approach to reduce their stress, anxiety, and depression levels.