Efficacy of Solution Focused Brief Therapy as a psychotherapeutic tool and sessions required in patients of Major Depressive Disorder in Indian Population

Depression is one of the major psychiatric disorders causing worldwide morbidity. Several anti-depressants are very helpful but since patients are overcome with negative emotions, psychotherapy is commonly used as an adjunct. Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is one of these psychotherapeutic tools which has been shown to offer positive results. In this study, SFBT was studied in Indian subjects comprising of both married and single patients, and of males and females ranging between 18-60 years of age. The findings suggest that even in our population, patients of mild to moderate depression benefited significantly. It was objectively seen as the reduction of their BDI-II scores, along with their subjective improvement which was markedly positive. Moreover, very few sessions (each session of 45 minutes to one hour) were required, thus limiting the total time period and cost of therapy, suggesting, that this would be a useful and effective therapeutic modality in future.