International Journal of Psychological Studies; Vol. 7, No. 2; 2015 ISSN 1918-7211 E-ISSN 1918-722X Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 88 Group Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depressed Iranian Migrants in Austria Atefeh Fathi 1 , Walter Renner 2 & Barbara Juen 1 1 Department of Psychology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria 2 Department of Psychology, Pan European University, Bratislava, Slovak Republic Correspondence: Atefeh Fathi, Technikerstrasse7, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria. Tel: 43-6818-378-0892. E-mail: atefeh.fathi@student.uibk.ac.at Received: March 18, 2015 Accepted: April 20, 2015 Online Published: May 29, 2015 doi:10.5539/ijps.v7n2p88 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijps.v7n2p88 Abstract The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Group based Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (GCBT) for Iranian migrants with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in Austria. Twenty-three Iranian women and men with an average, 40.4 years old that met DSM-IV criteria for MDD were randomized to the GCBT, Individual CBT, and Waiting-List control groups. All two types of interventions comprised 17 sessions lasting 60 minutes for individual CBT and 120 minutes for GCBT. The results showed a significant reduction in depression symptoms in GCBT group, evaluated by BDI-II, BSI (scale 4), and ATQ. The significant decrease in depression was found for individual CBT group with respect to BDI-II and ATQ as well. However, individual CBT in this study was not successful to decrease depression mood evaluated by BSI (scale 4) from pre- to post-intervention. A significant group differences between GCBT and individual CBT in BSI (scale 4) at post-intervention may highlight that GCBT in this study showed a stronger effect on depressed mood compared to individual CBT. The follow-up measurements revealed a significant deterioration for both groups. The findings from this study suggest that the reasons behind the Iranian migrant’s depression may be related to their chosen dysfunctional acculturation strategies. Therefore, GCBT can be considered an appropriate treatment for Iranian migrants with MDD by encouraging them to be more in contact with people from their own socio-cultural background and motivating them to modify their acculturation attitudes. Keywords: immigration, acculturation attitude, Iranian migrants, major depressive disorder, Group based Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy 1. Introduction Migration as a global phenomenon may confront immigrants, who left their own country in pursuit of financial, political, social, familial, educational, and personal goals, with a confusing number of threats to their self-esteem and cultural identity (Berry, Kim, Minde, & Mok, 1987a). According to Berry’s model of acculturation, there are two main factors in estimating the type of acculturation: retention of the heritage culture and attainment of the new one. These factors result in four acculturation strategies: integration (retention of one’s heritage culture as well as attainment of the new one), separation (retention of the heritage one but not attainment of the new one), assimilation (abandonment of one’s heritage culture and adoption of the new one), and marginalization (the loss of one’s heritage culture whiles failing to adapt to the new one). Although bicultural (integrated) individuals must be more under pressure from both the heritage and host culture communities, they generally have a better psychological adaptation (Berry, 1997). Berry et al. (1987a) showed that the Cultural marginalization is significantly related to depressive symptoms and it is expected to be relevant to psychological disorders and psychosomatic problems. In some studies, Loneliness, has been mentioned as a negative outcome of immigration (Sam & Eide, 1991; Zheng & Berry, 1991) and has been connected to diverse types of psychological distress, including mood disturbances (Ward & Kennedy, 1994), reductions in life satisfaction (Neto, 1995), and decreased satisfaction with coping potency (Chataway & Berry, 1989). Similarly, some investigations have found the reliable link between migration and physical and mental health problems (Ward, Bochner, & Furnham, 2001). The results of study about Iranian migrants conducted by Ghafarian (1998) revealed that striving to be concurrently connected to both the heritage and host cultures may result in high levels of mental pressure. In another study, Ekblad, Abazari and Eriksson (1999) found that Iranian migrants’ well-being and mental health