STUDENT: Caitlyn Powell

PROJECT ADVISOR: Renae McNair

ABSTRACT

People with major depressive disorder undergo many diverse types of treatment to help them cope with symptoms of their depression and more effectively handle everyday functioning. Throughout the course of treatment, resilience to mental health and environmental struggles may be fostered. This research will examine two commonly used treatments, psychoanalysis and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), to assess whether one is more conducive to resilience-building than the other. This research will include a longitudinal study of adults with major depressive disorder diagnoses based on DSM-V criteria, who have not received treatment for more than two weeks since the time of their diagnoses. Participants will be selected from Amazon’s MTurk. Participant depression and resilience will be measured using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), respectively. Measures will be taken every 4 months for two years. This research seeks to support or disprove three hypotheses: H1 — Psychotherapy and CBT will foster resilience in patients with major depressive disorder, H2 — More resilience, on average, will be fostered by CBT than psychotherapy in individuals with major depressive disorder, and H3 — Patients in remission will have the greatest levels of resilience, followed by patients with less severe cases of major depressive disorder, with more severe cases showing the lowest levels of resilience throughout the course of treatment. Literature review suggests partial support and partial rejection for H1, support for H2, and was inconclusive for rejecting or supporting H3.

Keywords: depression, Major Depressive Disorder, resilience, psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, mental health, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Beck Depression Inventory