Exercício aeróbio associado aos reforçadores generalizados na redução da intensidade da depressão.

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effects of aerobic exercise in connection with generalized reinforcers on the intensity of depression in people diagnosed by psychiatrists as depressed disorders. The subjects were two female adolescents, who were presented with behavior indicating depression. A reversion outline in the pattern ABAB-B was used to demonstrate the control of the procedures adopted, over a period of five months, distributed into 48 sessions of 60 minutes for the participants, as follows: Baseline I (BLI) composed of 6 sessions, followed by an intervention phase (INT-I) with 12 sessions; return to Baseline (BL-II) with 6 sessions, followed by two other intervention phases (INT-II and INT-III), the last of which conducted 30 days after INT-II. Data collecting was conducted through register sheets (RS) registering participants emotional conditions, RS-1 and RS-2 have been filled out by participants themselves, where as RS-3 by a family member. Research data show that regular aerobic exercise, in connection with generalized reinforcers efforts proved effective in reducing depression intensity. Next, analogous considerations under the prism of behaviorist concepts were developed.