Psychological Reports, 1993, 72, 440-442. O Psychological Reports 1993 A VIDEOTAPE AS INTRODUCTION FOR COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY WITH DEPRESSED INPATIENTS ' CHRIS SCHOTTE, MICHAEL MAES, TOM BEUTEN, BART VANDENBOSSCHE AND PAUL COSYNS Antwerp University Hospital (U. Z.A.) FRANK VAN COPPENOLLE Audio Vistral Center, University of Antwerp (U.I.A.) Summary.-This paper reports on the development of a videotape "Depression . . . the answers" for use in cognitive behavioral therapy with depressed inpatients. 17 patients evaluated the videotape. The described psychoeducational videoprogram was constructed as an introduction for, an opening to, and as a facilitation and clarification of the psychotherapeutic and pharmacological treatments. Depressive illnesses are among the most common psychological disor- ders, as epidemiological studies have consistently shown. The cognitive behav- ioral therapy for depression, as developed by Beck, Rush, Shaw, and Emery (21, is one of the most widely adopted, extensively evaluated (4), and influ- ential psychological treatments of depression. At the Psychiatric Department of the Antwerp University Hospital we developed a short-term cognitive behavioral therapy for inpatients with a depressive symptomatology. A diathesis-stress model was adopted in which depression is conceptualised as a process in which cognitive, interpersonal, biological, and behavioral factors interact. The psychotherapeutic treatment package includes individual, couple, and group sessions. As an introduction for, opening to, and clarification of the cognitive psychotherapy we developed a videotape "Depression . . . the answers" (3). The aim of the videotape is to introduce the depressed inpatients to the treatment milieu and therapeutic approach in our setting. A review of the lit- erature (5) indicated that the use of a psychoeducational videotape in cogni- tive behavioral therapy as a form of "pretherapy" with depressed patients is novel. The use of audiovisual material has constructive didactic advantages: at- tention-which is often impaired in depressed inpatients-is more easily fo- cused; the repetition of presentation facilitates memory processes. A video- tape can be started, stopped, or repeated as necessary: fragments of the tape can serve as an introduction for discussion. Depressive inpatients often experi- 'Address correspondence to C. Schotte, Department of Psychiatry, Universitair Ziekenhuis Ant- werpen, Wilrijkstraat 10, 2650 Edegem, Belgium. Both the original Dutch version and a trans- lated English version of the videotape have been developed; further information on the de- scribed videotape is available upon request.