Effect of group peer-counseling on depression in forced drug abstainers

Objective:To explore the effects of group peer-counseling on depression in forced drug abstainers.Methods:One hundred and forty forced drug abstainers were randomly divided into the observation group and control group(70 cases each group).The observation group was intervened with group peer-counseling for 6 months,and the control group was not intervened with the scheme.The depression in two groups before and after intervention was evaluated using Self-Rating Depression Scale(SDS).Results:Before intervention,the difference of the score of depression between two groups was not statistically significant(P>0.05).After intervention,the score of depression of male without depression in observation group was significantly lower than that of male in control group(P<0.01),the score of depression of female with light depression in observation group was significantly higher than that of female in control group(P<0.01),and the score of depression of female with moderate-severe depression in observation group was significantly lower than that of female in control group(P<0.01).Conclusions:Group peer-counseling can relieve the depression of forced drug abstainers,but which needs to be further validated and improved in future research.