DOES LEARNED RESOURCEFULNESS PREDICT THE RESPONSE TO COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY FOR DEPRESSION

We attempted to replicate findings that depressed patients with high learned resourcefulness, as measured by the Self-Control Schedule (SCS), respond better to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in a pooled sample of 112 depressed patients, including 53 patients participating in a controlled research investigation and 59 private practice patients participating in a naturalistic research study. As predicted, patients with high learned resourcefulness at intake improved the most during the first 12 weeks of treatment in the combined sample. However, the size of the effect was quite small and did not emerge when the two groups were analyzed separately. The relationship between learned resourcefulness and recovery was moderated by the severity of initial depression: SCS scores predicted improvement only among subjects who were more severely depressed at intake. These results may help to explain previous inconsistencies in reports regarding the ability of the SCS to predict the degree of response to CBT for depression.