Cognitive behavioral therapy among Ghana’s rural poor is effective regardless of baseline mental distress

Nathan Barker, Gharad Bryan, Dean Karlan, Angela L. Ofori-Atta and Christopher Udry

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: We study the impact of group-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for individuals selected from the general population of poor households in rural Ghana (N = 7,227). Results from one to three months after the program show strong impacts on mental and perceived physical health, cognitive and socioemotional skills, and economic self-perceptions. These effects hold regardless of baseline mental distress. We argue that this is because CBT can improve well-being for a general population of poor individuals through two pathways: reducing vulnerability to deteriorating mental health and directly increasing cognitive capacity and socioemotional skills.

Keywords: mental health; poverty; cognitive behavioral therapy; scarcity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 I12 I31 I32 O12 O18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 19 pages
Date: 2022-12-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-neu
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published in American Economic Review: Insights, 1, December, 2022, 4(4), pp. 527 - 545. ISSN: 2640-205X

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Journal Article: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy among Ghana's Rural Poor Is Effective Regardless of Baseline Mental Distress (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:114397

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