Effect of Social Skills Training Program on social functioning in patients with major depressive disorder in Outpatient Psychiatric Department, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital
Keywords:
Social Skills Training Program, social skills, social functioning, depression, major depressive disorderAbstract
Background: Depression is known as a common psychiatric disorder, with a lifetime prevalence of about 12.0%, more prevalent in women than men, and affects patients’ lives and their families. Social Skills Training Program (STTP) is aimed to improve the depressed patients’ social functioning by encouraging them to develop better social skills, express their emotions, and communicate their needs more effectively.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to study the effect of SSTP on social functions of the patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).
Methods: An experimental study with randomized controlled tried (RCT), was conducted in patients aged above 18 years with MDD from the Outpatient Psychiatric department, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital. There were 42 subjects in total; 21 in experimental group, who received 10-session SSTP with medical treatment as usual (TAU) and 21 in control group who had only the medical TAU. Social functioning was evaluated by using Social Functioning Questionnaire (SFQ) Thai version on week 0 (before treatment) and week10 (after treatment). The effect of SSTP on social functioning after the program between 2 groups was analyzed by using unpaired student t - test. P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
Results: Forty-two depressed subjects participated in the study. They were not significantly different in baseline of BDI-II score (experimental group 34.52 13.07, control 29.95
9.97). About the medication used in both groups, they received mostly SSRIs antidepressants at the average dosage of sertraline 50 - 100 mg/day. After calculating the mean difference from baseline, the mean of change of the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group. The differences of mean of change between the 2 groups was 5.67 with 95% CI 3.14 – 8.20 (P < 0.01), especially in the domain of social contacts, and leisure activities functioning of SFQ.
Conclusion: The Social Skills Training Program can help patients with MDD to be enable them to better adjust themselves in their lives, easier to connect to their social networks, and more enjoyable in their lives by better social skills, leading to recover on social functioning.
Downloads
References
World Health Organization. Depression and other common mental disorders: global health estimates. Geneva: WHO; 2017.
Rihmer Z, Angst J. Mood disorder: epidemiology. In: Sadock BJ, Sadock VA, editors. Kaplan & Sadock's comprehensive textbook of psychiatry. Vol.1. 8th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2005.p. 1575-82.
American Psychiatric Association. 2000. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 4th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association;2000.
Jenkins JH, Schumacher JG. Family burden of schizophrenia and depressive illness. Specifying the effects of ethnicity, gender and social ecology.Br J Psychiatry 1999;174:31-8.
https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.174.1.31
Alexopoulos GS, Borson S, Cuthbert BN, Devanand DP, Mulsant BH, Olin JT, et al. Assessment of late life depression. Biol Psychiatry 2002;52:164-74. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3223(02)01381-1
Lueboonthavatchai O, Lueboonthavatchai P, editors. Psychosocial treatment for depressive disorder. Bangkok: Tana Press; 2010.
Kupferberg A, Bicks L, Hasler G. Social functioning in major depressive disorder. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2016;69:313-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.07.002
Kasantikul D. Depression. 3rd ed. Bangkok: Numaksorn Publishing;1999.
Lotrakul M, Sukanit P. Ramathibodi essential psychiatry. 4th ed. Bangkok: Department of Psychiatry Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital; 2558.
Brady JP. Social skills training for psychiatric patients, II: Clinical outcome studies. Am J Psychiatry 1984; 141:491-8. https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.141.4.491
Nueangjaknak A, Suppapitiporn S. Depression in patients with type 2 diabetes attending at Chao Phya Abhaibhubejhr Hospital. Chula Med J 2019;3:163-9.
Hallgren M, Lundin A, Tee FY, Burstrom B, Forsell Y. Somebody to lean on: Social relationships predict post-treatment depression severity in adults. Psychiatry Res 2017; 249:261-7.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2016.12.060
Panya S, Dangdomyouth P, Lueboonthavatchai P. The effect of group interpersonal psychotherapy on depression among patients with depressive disorder. J Psychiatr Assoc Thai 2015;60(Pt 2):99-110.
Amital D, Fostick L, Silberman A, Beckman M, Spivak B. Serious life events among resistant and non-resistant MDD patients. J Affect Disord 2008;110:260-4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2008.01.006
Bellack AS, Hersen M, Himmelhoch JM. Social skills training for depression. In: Van Hasselt VB, Hersen M, editors. Sourcebook of psychological treatment manuals for adult disorders. Boston, MA: Springer;1996. p.179-200. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1528-3_5
Jackson HJ, Moss JD, Solinski S. Social skills training: an effective treatment for unipolar non-psychotic depression? Aust N Z J Psychiatry 1985;19:342-53. https://doi.org/10.1080/00048678509158842
Segrin C. Social skills deficits associated with depression. Clin Psychol Rev 2000;20:379-403.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-7358(98)00104-4
Tyrer P, Nur U, Crawford M, Karlsen S, McLean C, Rao B, et al. The Social Functioning Questionnaire: a rapid and robust measure of perceived functioning. Int J Soc Psychiatry 2005;51:265-75.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764005057391
Wells KC, Hersen M, Bellack AS, Himmelhoch J. Social skills training in unipolar nonpsychotic depression. Am J Psychiatry 1979;136:1331-2. https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.136.10.1331
Reed MK. Social skills training to reduce depression in adolescents. Adolescence 1994;29:293-302.
Bellack AS, Hersen M, Himmelhoch J. Social skills training compared with pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy in the treatment of unipolar depression. Am J Psychiatry 1981;138:1562-7.
https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.138.12.1562
Thase ME, Hersen M, Bellack AS, Himmelhoch JM, Kornblith SJ, Greenwald DP. Social skills training and endogenous depression. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 1984;15:101-8.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Chulalongkorn Medical Journal
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
