A Clinical Study On Traditional Chinese Medicine Psychotherapy For The Treatment Of Depression: Based On A Memory Tracing Method

Background"San Cai"refers to the individuals' living environment,in the psychology of TCM,"San Cai holism" emphasis on the relationship between individuals and environment,and the role of social factors.Many mental problems are related to patients' living environment,the stress factors caused by the environment play a very important role in the process of the onset of depression,which is one of the most common mental illnesses.The events the individuals experienced are stored in their memories.There for the diagnosis methods based on the experiences and memories have always been the focus of psychological research.Memory tracing method in TCM psychology is the treatment and researching method based on memories backtracking.Low resistance thought induction psychotherapy(TIP),outline homework,and memory tracing personality development inventory(WMPI)are the treatment or evaluation methods based on memory tracing method.TIP is a kind of psychotherapy.The therapists lead the patients into a state of low resistance by qigong,then induct the thoughts,which are focus on the past experiences of the patients.Outline homework is data collection method,to require patients to recall and write their experiences according to the outlines.WMPI is psychological measurement tools of the development level of personality factors in each age stage according to individuals' memories.Previous studies have found that TIP has good clinical curative effect on depression,however the research on psychological mechanism of TIP is still a blank at present.ObjectsTo make the effect of TIP on depression clear,research the psychological mechanism of TIP by researching tools based on memory tracing method,and explore the applications of memory tracing method in research of psychology of TCM.MethodsTo divide 60 patients with mild to moderate depression from psychological outpatient of Guang' anmen hospital into 2 groups randomly.The research group received TIP,and control group received cognitive behavioral therapy(CBT)for 12 weeks.To observe the changes of the score on Hamilton depression scale(HAMD),Hamilton anxiety scale(HAMA),Beck depression inventory(BDI),and WMPI between before and after the treatment,and qualitative analyze the outline homework of TIP group patients before and after treatment.Results1.Effective rateAfter 12 weeks of treatment,the HAMD score decreased in 2 group(P<0.01).Effective rate of TIP group was 80%,effective rate of CBT group was 66.7%,there were significant difference between 2 groups(P<0.05).When follow-up,2 groups maintained the efficacy in HAMD score,and HAMD score of TIP group declined futher(P<0.05)than the end of treatment,and had difference with CBT group(P<0.01).2.The improvement of depressionCompared with pretreatment,the score of HAMD,HAMA,BDI in 2 groups were improved after treatment.When being treated for 4 weeks,the significant difference(P<0.05)began to appear in mental anxiety factor score and total score of HAMA between 2 groups(P<0.05).At the 8th week,TIP group began to have significant difference(P<0.05)in anxiety/somatization factor score,day and night change factor score of HAMD,and somatic anxiety factor score of HAMA with CBT group.After treatment for 12 weeks,delay factor score of HAMD of TIP group began to have significant difference(P<0.05)with CBT group.When follow-up at the 3rd month after finishing treatment,there were significant difference(P<0.05)in cognitive disorder factor score and total score of HAMD between 2 groups.In the score of sleep disorder factor,despair factor and weight factor of HAMD,TIP group had no significant difference(P>0.05)with CBT group during and after treatment.3.The change of the number of abnormal personality factors in WMPIThe total number of WMPI abnormal personality factors in 2 groups decreased(P<0.05)after treatment,and TIP group had less abnormal personality factors than CBT group(P<0.05).The number of abnormal personality factors in childhood,teenage decreased(P<0.05)in TIP group,and the number in youth reduced(P<0.05)in both groups.After treatment,TIP group had less abnormal personality factors in childhood and teenage than CBT group(P<0.05).The number of abnormal factors in the volition,parenting style,courage,ego consciousness,way of thinking subscales decreased in TIP group.4.The results of qualitative study on outline homework in TIP group(1)The change of the number of eventsThe overall words count,and the number of events decreased significantly(P<0.05)in the outline homework after treatment.The events in teenage,youth and recent reduced(P<0.05).There were less negative events in the outline homework after treatment,and there were no difference in positive events between pre and post outline homework.The events with negative emotions decreased(P<0.05),and the number of the events with positive emotions remain the same(P>0.05).(2)The change of eventsSome events were written in both outline homework before and after the treatment.Some differences were shown in cognition and emotion of the same events,such as milder emotions,acceptance of negative events,more rational way of thinking and solving.(3)Feedback on treatmentSome patients gave feedback in the after treatment outline homework,including comprehension of treatment and symptoms improvement.Comprehension of treatment included understanding of depression and life,acceptance of negative events and their own weaknesses,and so on.Symptoms improvement included depression,somatic symptoms,anxiety,inferiority,etc.Conclusion1.The effective rate of TIP in mild to moderate depression was 80%,which is better than CBT.TIP can improve depression symptoms and reduce the score of HAMD,HAMA,BDI effectively,and have continuous improvement after treatment.2.TIP could improve the personal susceptibility in mild-to-moderate depression.WMPI showed that TIP therapy can reduce the amount of abnormal personality factors,outline homework showed change in emotions and cognition of events in memories after treatment.3.The psychotherapy mechanism of TIP on depression is to put the patients into low resistance state through the way of qigong,induct thoughts in yuanshen,and has influence on shishen and yushen.Using figurative thinking to arouse the sensory perception of the patients.Based on memory tracing method,to improve the cognition,behaviors,emotions and personal susceptibility by empathy,analysis,re-growth and behavioral guiding.4.Memory tracing method observe the memories and discover the development of depression,treat the patients base on their experience,has meanings in the clinical treatment of depression.