Effectiveness of positive psychotherapy for young adults with depressive symptoms

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the level of happiness and depressive symptoms before and after positive psychotherapy.. METHODS: The experimental study was conducted from February 2018to March 2018 in Shahpur Sadar town of Sargodha district in the Punjab province of Pakistan at Govt. College, and comprised female young adults with depressive symptoms. The participants were subjected to 8 sessions (one baseline and seven other) of group positive psychotherapy. On the basis of repeated measure design, data was collected using the depression subscale of Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21, Positive Psychotherapy Inventory, and Values in Action Inventory before, during and after therapy administration. SPSS 23 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Of the 250 subjects assessed, 30(12%) aged 18-20 years were selected for therapy sessions as they had some level of depression; 15(50%) mild and 15(50%) moderate. Mean happiness level increased with each session from baseline value of 20.63±4.61 to post-therapy 50.67±4.63 (p<0.05). Depression level decreased from baseline value of 15.47±3.42 with each session to post-therapy 4.53±1.10 (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Positive psychotherapy sessions were found to be effective in decreasing depression among female young adults.