Adaptive Inferential Feedback Partner Training: An Augmented Cognitive-Behavioral Approach

It has been clearly documented that social support exerts a salubrious impact on depression. Yet, standardized social support interventions, with the primary intent of alleviating a patient’s depression, have not been incorporated into evidence-based treatments for mood disorders. Not all types of support are necessarily beneficial. Inferential feedback is a subtype of social support that addresses an individual’s perception of the cause, meaning, and consequences of negative life events and may be either adaptive or maladaptive. A short-term adaptive inferential feedback (AIF) training manual was developed for the partners (e.g., friends, family members) of depressed patients. The present case examines the effectiveness of a standard 14-session cognitive-behavioral treatment augmented with 4 AIF partner-training sessions. Results suggest that this newly developed social support intervention may be feasible, well liked, and possibly beneficial to depressed patients. Further research is needed to investigate any incremental value of this intervention beyond standard cognitive-behavioral treatment.