Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106(1):138-144, 1997.

Outcome of cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression: relation to hemispheric dominance for verbal processing

Gerard E. Bruder, Jonathan W. Stewart, M.A. Mercier, V. Agosti, Paul Leite, S. Donovan, Frederic M. Quitkin

Department of Biopsychology, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY 10032, USA
 

Abstract

Unmedicated depressed outpatients were tested on dichotic syllable and complex tone tests prior to receiving 16 weekly sessions of cognitive therapy (n = 31) or 6-12 weeks of placebo treatment (n = 45). Cognitive-therapy responders had twice the right-ear (left hemisphere) advantage for syllables when compared with nonresponders but did not differ from nonresponders on the nonverbal task. The larger right-ear advantage in cognitive-therapy responders was due to better right-ear accuracy; they did not differ from nonresponders in left-ear accuracy. No differences in perceptual asymmetry or accuracy were found between placebo responders and nonresponders. Right-ear accuracy for syllables was the best predictor of response to cognitive therapy in a logistic regression analysis. The findings suggest that greater left-hemisphere advantage for verbal processing is associated with more favorable outcome of cognitive therapy for depression.