Study Says Online Therapy Can Help Deal With Depression

JAKARTA - Among the various ways people handle cases of depression, online-based behavior activation therapy can be an option, according to a study published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry this year.

The study found that people with severe depression who received behavioral activation therapy (intervention groups) online, their depression degrees fell after 10 weeks and their chances of recovering were 50 percent higher than those who only received online psychoeducation (control groups).

"Start depression is at 18 (heavy), as therapy goes on for 10 weeks, the level of depression is measured again. The level of depression has dropped in those who are included in the behavioral activation group (down 1.26 points)," said one researcher from Groningen University in the Netherlands, Retha Arjadi as quoted by ANTARA.

The decline in depression rate also actually occurred in groups of depressed people who received psycho-education therapy, but not as large as in the intervention group. To arrive at these findings, Retha and her two colleagues from the University of Amsterdam involved 313 participants (depressive sufferers) in Indonesia. Of this number, 159 people received behavioral activation therapy (GAF-ID) and the rest were psycho-educated online.

In GAF-ID therapy, participants involved get guidance from trained lay counselors to implement behavioral activation therapy protocols. This therapy has been adapted in the context of Indonesian culture.

"There are eight modules with different destinations, moduli one for example to realize depression and evaluate them. Each module has its own work sheet that requires participants to fill in online. The level of depression is measured every two weeks," said Retha.

"Activities that need to be done are common in Indonesia such as going to the market, shopping at street vendors," he continued.

Retha, who works as a clinical psychology lecturer at Atma Jaya's Unika, Jakarta, said that in fact, people with depression can get therapy such as psychoeducation when they have an awareness of themselves.

"He reflected on his condition and did something related to his depression, so that his depression level dropped," he said.

Even so, Retha and the team saw the need for further studies on online-based therapy to deal with heavier depression.

"Depressive people lose interest, thus exacerminating their depression. This therapy was developed to decide that. No matter how bad your mood is when you are depressed, do something, for example take a shower, then evaluate feelings. Doing nothing makes depression even worse," he explained.