Effectiveness of hypnosis therapy and Gestalt therapy as depression treatments

Abstract

We analyzed the effectiveness of two psychological therapies to treat depression in the Culiacan population, Mexico. According to criteria of MINI (international Neuropsychiatric interview), 30 individuals from a total of 300 were selected and diagnosed with some kind of depression. Patients were divided in three groups: 1) treatment with hypnosis therapy, 2) treatment with Gestalt-hypnosis therapy, and 3) control group. Before and after the treatments the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) was applied to know the depression level of the analyzed groups. The results show that the three groups were presenting a moderated level of depression. The groups under hypnosis therapy and Gestalt-hypnosis therapy show statistical differences between pre-test and post-test. The hypnosis therapy shows significant statistic differences to treat depression with respect to the other two groups. In conclusion, the therapeutic hypnosis is an effective treatment and has relevance to treat depression, while other therapeutic treatments tend to be slow and with minor result. This study is the first of this kind carried out in Culiacan in Sinaloa, Mexico.