Research shows that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can help unemployed individuals struggling with depression find work. In a study from Ohio State University, 41% of unemployed or underemployed participants secured new jobs or advanced from part-time to full-time roles after 16 weeks of CBT treatment for depression.
Employed individuals who faced challenges concentrating and completing tasks due to depression also reported significant improvements in these areas post-treatment.
“Researchers have largely focused on showing that therapy relieves symptoms of depression,” said Daniel Strunk, PhD, study co-author and professor of psychology at Ohio State University. “But reducing symptoms isn't the only goal people have when they start CBT. Many hope to find a job or improve their productivity at their current job. Here we discovered that therapy can also help people achieve these goals.”
Strunk led the study with Iony Ezawa and Graham Bartels, Ohio State graduates at the time. It included 126 participants who completed a 16-week CBT program at the Ohio State Depression Treatment and Research Clinic.
CBT equips patients with coping skills to challenge and reframe negative beliefs, explained Strunk.
"It works on the idea that people with depression invariably have these overly negative views of themselves and their future," he said. “For example, if an unemployed patient doesn't get one job they interviewed for, they might think 'nobody will ever hire me'.”
Of the 27 patients aiming to improve their employment status at treatment start, 11 (41%) succeeded by the end of 16 weeks.
“It's hard to say exactly how good this success rate is, as we don't know how many would have gotten a job without the treatment,” Strunk noted. “But the findings were encouraging and suggest that CBT has an impact.”
CBT also clearly benefited employed participants whose depression hindered work effectiveness. “Working patients reported at the end of treatment that they were much more successful in concentrating and performing tasks at work,” he said.
The study linked these gains to reductions in patients' "negative cognitive style"—their tendency to interpret events overly pessimistically.
“CBT helps patients overcome these beliefs by teaching them that the experience of depression is not their fault and that they can take steps to improve their concentration and accomplish work more successfully, even if they are experiencing depressive symptoms,” Strunk explained.
