Psychological defense mechanisms are a powerful and often unappreciated force safeguarding mental health. Although rarely directed in this way, the most common forms of psychiatric treatment-psychotherapy and antidepressants-can enhance psychological defense mechanisms. Psychotherapy, through both specific and nonspecific factors, induces positive perspective shifts favoring positive cognitive ...

BACKGROUND This randomized clinical trial compared 16-week interventions with interpersonal psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, supportive psychotherapy, and supportive psychotherapy with imipramine for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients with depressive symptoms. METHODS Subjects (N = 101; 85 male, 16 female) with known HIV seropositivity for at least 6 months were ...

Objective: Diabetes is a chronic disease that influences mental and physical health. Regarding the importance of diabetic patients’ psychological status, this research studied the effect of group positive psychotherapy on life expectancy and general health of type 2 diabetic patients. Materials and Methods: This clinical-trial study was done on 30 type 2 diabetic patients in Kermanshah d...

BACKGROUND The diagnosis of infertility and concurrent medical treatment may inflict an array of negative emotional symptoms in infertile persons. Evidence for the positive effects of psychotherapy on negative affect and also possible influence on conception rates has been discussed in several studies. METHOD Meta-analyses were conducted in order to evaluate the efficacy of group and individu...

Objectives: Multiple Sclerosis is one of the most important and prevalent central nervous system diseases, causing disorders such as depression among affected patients. Positive psychotherapy is also a new approach that can be effective in reducing the depression of these people. This study aims to investigate the efficiency of group positive psychotherapy for decreasing the depression among fe...

A very high proportion of controlled trials of psychotropic drugs report a positive outcome. To determine if the population of positive outcome in psychotherapy trials is as high as reported, a cohort of consecutive randomized controlled trials published in four internal psychiatry journals over a five-year period were analyzed. Chi square test and descriptive analysis were conducted. A total o...