Meta-analysis of Rumination-focused versus Standard Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Depression: A Proposal 

Scout E. Armas-Mossotti
Dr. Jeffrey R. Vittengl, Faculty Mentor

Major depressive disorder is a prevalent cause of disability and suffering among adults in the United States. Depression is often treated with medication or cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), but only about half of patients improve substantially. One way to improve CBT may be to address rumination during treatment. Rumination involves repetitive, distress-provoking thoughts of past negative events. The proposed project will synthesize all randomized clinical trials (RCTs) testing the benefits of adding rumination as a therapeutic target to standard CBT. I will systematically search scientific databases for relevant RCTs and extract sample size, effect size, and study characteristics from each. I will then use quantitative meta-analysis to summarize the overall benefit of targeting rumination and explore moderators of treatment benefits, such as patients’ gender, age, and socioeconomic status and therapists’experience level. Potential benefits of this project include guiding therapists and patients towards more effective treatments.

Keywords: Major Depressive Disorder, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Randomized Control Trials, Meta-Analysis, Rumination

Topic(s):Psychology

Presentation Type: Poster Presentation

Session: TBA
Location: TBA
Time: TBA