Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on the Depressive Symptomology of Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Abstract

The current research aimed to determine the effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to reduce depressive symptoms in women diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. A quantitative pre-test-post-test design was employed and six women with mild to moderate symptoms of depression, aged between 19-40 years were recruited using purposive sampling technique using the Patient Healthcare Questionnaire (PHQ-9) (Spitzer et al., 2001). It was hypothesized there will be a relationship between Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and symptoms of depression and that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy would be effective in ameliorating the effects of depression in women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Quasi research design was used. A total of seven group therapy sessions were conducted and Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used to analyse the results. Result indicated that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy significantly reduced the symptoms of depression in women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (p <0.05). This research can aid medical practitioners in creating structured holistic treatment programs to treat the physiological as well as emotional factors of the disorder.