Positive psychotherapy based on “belief in divine goodness” for subclinical depression in Iran: treatment development, feasibility, and preliminary results

ABSTRACT

Implementing positive psychotherapy in various cultures is challenging. This study assessed the clinical outcomes of a positive psychotherapy protocol based on “belief in divine goodness”, using a multiple-baseline design. We used a modified form of Seligman’s protocol on three Iranian adults with subclinical depression. Four new techniques were also added to the protocol to enhance the concept of happiness and life satisfaction, based on the dominant religious culture in Iran. The participants showed lower levels of depression but higher happiness, life satisfaction, pleasure, engagement and meaning in their lives compared to their status at the baseline. The new protocol may have psychotherapeutic benefits for use in subjects with subclinical depression. Future studies with larger sample sizes are warranted to assess the true effects of this protocol compared to those achieved by standard positive psychotherapy.

KEYWORDS:

• Happiness
• life satisfaction
• multiple baseline
• positive psychotherapy
• single case series
• subclinical depression

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the participants for their time and contribution to this case report. We are grateful to the Department of Psychology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran, for supporting this study. Funding for this study was provided by the first author. The authors appreciate Dr. Simin Bakhshi for her excellent grammatical review of the manuscript based on native English language. This study was approved for the ethical guidelines by the Iranian Clinical Trials Registry (IRCT #: 2014070818405N1). Informed consent was obtained from all individual adult participants included in the study. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the [ethics committee in university of Tehran] and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Dr. Noferesti proposed the concept, and designed and conducted the study. Both authors participated in data analyses and writing the first draft of the manuscript. Dr. Tavakol wrote, revised and edited the final version.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).