Cognitive rehabilitation of attention and memory in depression

BACKGROUND: Cognitive deficits are an important component of depression and may remain impaired after recovery from depression. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy of cognitive rehabilitation in depression on cognitive dysfunction in the area of attention and memory. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was hospital based pre- and post-intervention with follow-up assessment design. Selection of the depressive patients was by purposive sampling. The sample size consists of 30 intervention depressive patients included in the study after giving written informed consent. After preassessment, all patients underwent 15 sessions as part of cognitive rehabilitation. Postassessment was done to see the outcome of cognitive rehabilitation after 3 months follow-up. RESULTS: After the intervention, there was significant improvement in attention and memory area. Along with these deficits, their basic living skills were also improved. CONCLUSION: Cognitive rehabilitation techniques are useful in remediating cognitive dysfunction in the area of attention and memory in patients with depression.