Among adult HIV-positive patients (P), how does cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) (I) compare to regular psychiatric treatment (C) in reducing depressive symptoms (O) over six months (T)?

Write 1-2 paragraphs reflecting on your learning for the week. Guiding questions are provided or you may write about what you felt was most significant to you for the week.

Think about the following question related to your review of the literature associated with your PICOT question. You will be revisiting some of these topics in your week 7 presentation.

Was it difficult to find evidence related to your selected area of interest?
What types of evidence were easiest to find (quantitative, qualitative, reviews, practice guidelines)?
How did you find the overall quality of the available evidence?
In looking at the available evidence, did you see any gaps in the evidence? What additional research on the topic would you like to see conducted?
Based on what you found, does the literature support a practice change?

 

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.

God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

This week’s exploration of the literature on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for HIV-positive patients with depression was both enlightening and challenging. I was particularly interested in understanding the potential benefits of CBT in improving mental health outcomes for this vulnerable population.

Evidence Search:

I found that finding high-quality evidence specifically addressing the comparison of CBT to regular psychiatric treatment for depression in HIV-positive adults was somewhat challenging. While there is a growing body of research on CBT for depression, studies that directly compare it to other forms of treatment in this specific population are limited.

This week’s exploration of the literature on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for HIV-positive patients with depression was both enlightening and challenging. I was particularly interested in understanding the potential benefits of CBT in improving mental health outcomes for this vulnerable population.

Evidence Search:

I found that finding high-quality evidence specifically addressing the comparison of CBT to regular psychiatric treatment for depression in HIV-positive adults was somewhat challenging. While there is a growing body of research on CBT for depression, studies that directly compare it to other forms of treatment in this specific population are limited.

Types of Evidence:

The most common types of evidence I encountered were quantitative studies, primarily randomized controlled trials (RCTs). These studies provided valuable data on the effectiveness of CBT compared to other interventions. Additionally, I found several systematic reviews and meta-analyses that synthesized the existing evidence and provided a broader overview of the topic.

Quality of Evidence:

Overall, I found the quality of the available evidence to be moderate. While there are several well-designed studies supporting the efficacy of CBT for depression, more research is needed to establish definitive conclusions, especially in the context of HIV-positive patients.

Evidence Gaps and Future Research:

One notable gap in the literature is the lack of studies that directly compare CBT to other evidence-based treatments, such as interpersonal therapy or antidepressant medications, in HIV-positive patients. Additionally, more research is needed to explore the long-term effects of CBT and to identify factors that may influence treatment outcomes.

Practice Change:

Based on the available evidence, there is growing support for the use of CBT as an effective intervention for depression in HIV-positive patients. However, further research is needed to establish definitive guidelines and recommendations for its implementation in clinical practice. In the meantime, healthcare providers should consider offering CBT as a viable option for patients with depression, particularly in conjunction with other evidence-based treatments.

 

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