Experience sampling-based personalized feedback and Positive affect: A randomized controlled trial in depressed patients

Abstract

Objectives: Positive affect (PA) plays a crucial role in the development, course, and recovery of depression. Recently, we showed that a therapeutic application of the experience sampling method (ESM), consisting of feedback focusing on PA in daily life, was associated with a decrease in depressive symptoms. The present study investigated whether the experience of PA increased during the course of this intervention. Design: Multicentre parallel randomized controlled trial. An electronic random sequence generator was used to allocate treatments. Settings: University, two local mental health care institutions, one local hospital. Participants: 102 pharmacologically treated outpatients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of major depressive disorder, randomized over three treatment arms. Intervention: Six weeks of ESM self-monitoring combined with weekly PA-focused feedback sessions (experimental group); six weeks of ESM self-monitoring combined with six weekly sessions without feedback (pseudo-experimental group); or treatment as usual (control group).