Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP16640
Authors: Nathan Barker; Gharad Bryan; Dean Karlan; Angela Oforiatta; Christopher Udry
Abstract: We study the impact of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for individuals selected from the general population of poor households in rural Ghana. Results from 2-3 months after a randomized intervention show strong impacts on mental and physical health, cognitive and socioemotional skills, and downstream economic outcomes. We find no evidence of heterogeneity by baseline mental distress; weargue that this is because CBT can improve human capital for a general population of poor individuals through two pathways. First, CBT reduces vulnerability to deteriorating mental health; and second, CBT directly improves bandwidth, increasing cognitive and socioemotional skills and hence economic outcomes.
Keywords: Mental Health; Poverty; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Human Capital
JEL Codes: I15; I31; O12
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) (D91) | mental health (I12) |
| Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) (D91) | psychological distress (I31) |
| Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) (D91) | physical health (I19) |
| Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) (D91) | days with poor physical health (I12) |
| Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) (D91) | socioemotional skills (Z13) |
| Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) (D91) | cognitive skills (G53) |