Participants are needed for a randomized clinical trial that compares conventional cognitive behavior therapy (CCBT) to spiritually integrated cognitive behavior therapy (SICBT) as a treatment for depression in people with a chronic illness (broadly defined, including any health problem).

The purpose of the study is to determine whether utilizing people's spiritual resources helps boost the effects of conventional CBT. CBT is a proven treatment for major depression, so there will be no control group.

Study Requirements

All patients will receive treatment from licensed, master's level therapists. Therapists will deliver 10 treatment sessions by telephone, in real time, over the Internet, or by Skype (depending on person's preference).

Our goal is to recruit 100 people between the ages of 18 and 80 with depression to be randomized to either CCBT or SICBT.

The trial will consist of ten, 50-minute sessions administered over 12 weeks. All treatment sessions are free and all participants will receive treatment (CBT) that has proven effectiveness for depression.

Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim versions of the SICBT manual will be developed, and CBT experts in each of these traditions will supervise therapists for these patients.

Participants will have a 50 percent chance of being assigned to either SICBT or CCBT and will not choose which group they are assigned to. Participants must also be willing to provide blood and urine specimens; although, they will be paid for doing so.

For more information, contact Harold G. Koenig, MD, at 919-681-6633 or e-mail koenig@geri.duke.edu.