Studying the effect of cognitive-behavioral counseling based on interacting cognitive subsystems on depression of infertile couples

Objectives: The main purpose of this research is studying the effect of cognitive - behavioral counseling, based on interacting cognitive subsystems (ICS) approach, on depression of infertile couples.Design: The research is quasi experimental.Materials and methods: The sample consists of 30 infertile couples who are placed randomly in the experimental andthe control group. Both groups were assessed in two stages, pre- test and post-test, by Beck Depression Inventory.The time laps between pre-test and post-test was 6 weeks. The experimental group was exposed to counseling basedon ICS approach in six sessions.Results: The study indicates that counseling based on interacting cognitive subsystems is effective in decreasing the depression of infertile couples in the experimental group than the control group (p 0.0001) and its effect is considerably higher on women than men (p=0.009).Conclusion: Cognitive-behavioral counseling based on interacting cognitive subsystems approach is effective indecreasing infertile couples’ depression and it would be better to consider it as a part of therapy along with biological therapies related to infertility.