The Effect of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy on Post-Traumatic Depression in Flood Victims

Posttraumatic depression is often observed among flood victims all over the world including Nigeria. People who survived the experience of flood tend to suffer long-term psychosocial effects such as distress, anxiety, pain, learned helplessness, social dysfunctions that eventually lead to depression. These negative consequences engender irrational beliefs that are part of psychopathologies among flood victims. Exposing flood victims in Nigeria to rational emotive approaches that would enable them to manage their posttraumatic depression could be an important opportunity to make them feel less depressed and become more functional and successful in their life and the word of work. This study examines the effect of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) intervention on posttraumatic depressed flood victims in Nigeria. A total number of 98 participants (parents) were randomly assigned to treatment (n = 49) and the waitlisted control (n = 49) groups. REBT Depression Manual was used for the delivery of the intervention while depression was evaluated using Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) and Goldberg Depression Scale. The data of the pretest, posttest and follow-up were subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS version 22. Specifically, Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used for method of data analysis. Result indicated that REBT program led to the significant reduction in posttraumatic depressed flood victims in Nigeria, the implication is that posttraumatic thoughts and beliefs of flood victims that led to depressive state was addressed, thereby placing the victims under good mental health through the application of REBT evidence-based techniques.