The Effectiveness of Time Perspective Therapy on Reducing Depressive Symptoms

Abstract

Time perspective therapy is a therapy based on the time perspective theory and it aims to balance the time perspective. Since depressed patients usually have a distorted time perspective, it has been hypothesized that this kind of therapy may help them. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of time perspective therapy on depression symptoms. Eight female depressed patients entered the group therapy and were compared with a control group of eight female patients. Both groups were asked to answer the Beck Depression Inventory in a pretest phase. Then the patients in the experimental group attended group therapy for six sessions. After that, both the groups were asked to answer the same questionnaire in the post-test phase. The results showed that patients who entered the group therapy became significantly better compared with the control group. The findings suggest that time perspective therapy can be effective in reducing depressive symptoms in depressed female students.