The Long-Run Effects of Psychotherapy on Depression, Beliefs, and Economic Outcomes
Bhargav Bhat,
Jonathan de Quidt,
Johannes Haushofer,
Vikram H. Patel,
Gautam Rao,
Frank Schilbach and
Pierre-Luc P. Vautrey
No 30011, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc
Abstract:
We revisit two clinical trials that randomized depressed adults in India (n=775) to a brief course of psychotherapy or a control condition. Four to five years later, the treatment group was 11 percentage points less likely to be depressed than the control group. The more effective intervention averted 9 months of depression on average over five years and cost only $66 per recipient. Therapy changed people’s beliefs about themselves in three ways. First, it reduced their likelihood of seeing themselves as a failure or feeling bad about themselves. Second, when faced with a novel work opportunity, therapy reduced over-optimistic belief updating in response to feedback and thus reduced overconfidence. Third, it increased self-assessed levels of patience and altruism. Therapy did not increase levels of employment or consumption, possibly because of other constraints on employment in the largely female study sample.
JEL-codes: D03 D91 I15 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp and nep-neu
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