Group CBT Therapy Manuals

This major revision of the San Francisco General Hospital Depression Clinic manual was done in the year 2000. It includes English and Spanish versions for the group members (Participant Manuals) and an English version for the therapist (Instructor’s Manual).

The particular perspective to CBT described here is a “reality management approach,” developed by the senior author’s experiences at San Francisco General Hospital since 1977. Patients at this county hospital have very few resources, they come from many cultural backgrounds, many have low levels of formal education, and many are immigrants and not English-speaking. Muñoz feels that for this population, changes in thoughts and cognitions must produce changes in the individuals’ daily lives and social and physical environments to become long lasting. That is, patients must learn to manage their personal reality in a healthy manner.

The group structure consists of four modules focusing on thoughts, activities, contact with people, and health. A module consists of four sessions emphasizing each specific topic and its connection to mood.

The manuals are being used to train psychology interns and postdoctoral Fellows as well as psychiatry residents to conduct CBT in groups for depression at the University of California, San Francisco (San Francisco General Hospital and Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute), and other training institutions. Please let us know if you are using them on your site.

For related published article: Aguilera, A., Garza, M. J., & Munoz, R. F. (2010). Group cognitive‐behavioral therapy for depression in Spanish: culture‐sensitive manualized treatment in practice. Journal of clinical psychology, 66(8), 857-867.

Group Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy of Major Depression