Working Paper: NBER ID: w30011
Authors: Bhargav Bhat; Jonathan De Quidt; Johannes Haushofer; Vikram H. Patel; Gautam Rao; Frank Schilbach; Pierreluc P. Vautrey
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.
Keywords: psychotherapy; depression; economic outcomes; beliefs; randomized controlled trials
JEL Codes: D03; D91; I15; O12
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Psychotherapy (D91) | Economic Beliefs and Behaviors (P19) |
| Psychotherapy (D91) | Employment Outcomes (J68) |
| Psychotherapy (D91) | Consumption Outcomes (E21) |
| Psychotherapy (D91) | Depression (E32) |
| Psychotherapy (D91) | PHQ-9 Scores (Y10) |
| Psychotherapy (D91) | Long-term Depression Outcomes (I12) |
| Psychotherapy (D91) | Feelings of Failure (D91) |
| Psychotherapy (D91) | Self-Assessed Patience and Altruism (D64) |