Are You Blue? What Do You Do? A Case Study on Treatment Options for Depression by Robert Grossman, Psychology Department, Kalamazoo College Amy Pettigrew, College of Nursing, University of Cincinnati Linda Walsh, Psychology Department, University of Northern Iowa Kathleen Boje, School of Pharmacy, University at Buffalo

Introduction

This exercise is designed to introduce you to treatment alternatives for depression. This case is not designed to teach you how to make decisions about whether or not someone is depressed nor will it provide you with enough education to suggest treatments for someone who is depressed. It is designed to show you how complicated the process of choosing a treatment is so that you will see why it is necessary to seek professional help for appropriate diagnosis and treatment.

Most professors report that they learn best by teaching others. This class will give you a chance to do this by using the "jigsaw" method.

We have four goals:

• To learn the advantages, disadvantages, and costs of five treatments for depression.
• To better understand the difficulty and probabilistic nature of treatment decisions in order to understand why it is necessary to see a professional to get help with diagnostic and treatment decisions.
• To introduce the concept and potential value of alternative treatments or natural remedies for the treatment of depression.
• To stimulate curiosity about the resources for treating depression on your campus (i.e., counseling center, health center, etc.).

The class will be divided into Home Groups of five people by numbering off. Each person in the group will be responsible for becoming an "expert" on one of the five treatment alternatives we are going to discuss for depression. These experts will then return to their Home Groups and teach the material they have learned.

• Home Groups (Phase 1)—We will divide the class up into Home Groups of five, pass out the case study, and give you time to read the case and discuss the basic issues. Each of the Home Groups should arrange seats so you can easily see and hear each team member. After you have finished reading the case, your team needs to select one representative to attend each of the five Expert Groups.
   
• Expert Groups—At tables A, B, C, D, and E information sheets will be posted so team experts can take notes on the advantages, disadvantages, and costs of a main treatment of depression using the note-taking sheet developed for that purpose. It is here in your Expert Groups that you will use each other to make sure you understand the important aspects of the information you are to teach. You should actually rehearse what you are going to say back in your Home Groups.
   
• Home Groups (Phase 2)—Each representative will go back to their Home Groups and teach teammates what they have learned about their treatment method. Next the team should summarize what they have learned about all of the treatment alternatives. Finally, your group should pretend to be Peggy and indicate which type of professional and treatment you would prefer to check out first and why.
   
• Full Class—We will have each Home Group pick one spokesperson to present its treatment summary, decision, and rationale to the rest of the class on the overheads we will give each group.

Approximate Time Frame:

• 5 minutes to read and discuss the case study in Home Groups (Phase 1).
• 15 minutes in Expert Groups.
• 15 minutes back in Home Groups (Phase 2).
• 15 minutes Full Class presentation and discussion of group findings.

Evaluation:

Today—Groups will be evaluated on the degree to which each member participates in the discussion as well as on the quality and justification of your treatment decisions.

Long term—Questions about the advantages, disadvantages, and costs of each type of treatment for depression will be on the next test as well as on the final exam.

Image Credit:  Detail of 32¢ United States Stamp, "America Survives the Depression".
Date Posted:  04/08/02 nas

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