Behavioural activation for depression: efficacy, effectiveness and dissemination.

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Abstract:

<p><b>BACKGROUND: </b>Depression being a prevalent psychobiological disorder across the world, there is a need to identify effective, evidence-based treatments that are time and cost-effective in an effort to increase the population's accessibility to treatments. Low-intensity interventions, such as guided self-help treatments, hold promise for the dissemination of evidence-based treatments. Behavioural activation, a component of cognitive-behavioural therapy, is receiving increasing attention and empirical support as a stand-alone psychological treatment for depression. This article reviews behavioural activation's theoretical foundations and efficacy in light of determining its potential as a low-intensity intervention.</p><p><b>METHOD: </b>A systematic review of articles on low-intensity behavioural activation interventions for depression was conducted using the PsychInfo, Medline and Embase databases. Behavioural activation's potential for dissemination as a guided self-help treatment is discussed and future avenues of research are stressed.</p><p><b>LIMITATIONS: </b>Studies on the efficacy of behavioural activation as a guided self-help treatment are very limited to date and there are significant variations among existing studies.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS: </b>Based on the research literature, it can be concluded that behavioural activation could be a viable option as a low-intensity guided self-help psychological treatment for mild to moderate depression. Further research is required to better understand the optimal parameters and client-therapist characteristics of this form of low-intensity intervention.</p>