Self-administered treatments for depression: a review.
Although there are numerous self-help books for depression, relatively few have been empirically tested. However, those that have been used in clinical trials have fared well, with an average effect size roughly equivalent to the average effect size obtained in psychotherapy studies. Computer-based treatments are being developed and appear promising as an alternative to bibliotherapy for those interested in self-administered treatments. This article provides a summary of the depression bibliotherapy literature and discusses several remaining questions such as effectiveness versus efficacy, practice applications, ethics, and future research.
McKendree-Smith
Nancy L
NL
Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 35487-0348, USA. nmc.smith@uab.edu
Floyd
Mark
M
Scogin
Forrest R
FR
D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D012648:Self Care; D012984:Software; D014584:User-Computer Interface