Bouldering psychotherapy is more effective in the treatment of depression than physical exercise alone: results of a multicentre randomised controlled intervention study

Background Recent scientific studies have suggested that climbing/bouldering is effective in alleviating depression when the comparison group was a waitlist control group, even when physical activity and other therapeutic approaches were controlled for. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a manualised psychotherapeutic bouldering intervention for depressed individuals, compared with an active control group performing physical exercise alone. Methods In a multicentre randomised controlled intervention trial, 133 outpatients with depression were assigned to either a bouldering psychotherapy (BPT) group or a home-based supervised exercise programme (EP). Severity of depression as the primary outcome was assessed at baseline and directly after a ten-week intervention period using the Montgomery–Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). Secondary outcomes included anxiety, coping skills, self-esteem, body image, and interpersonal sensitivity. We applied t-tests to test for differences within the groups (t0 vs. t1) and between the BPT and the EP and a multiple regression analysis with the post-intervention MADRS score as the dependent variable. The robustness of estimates was investigated with a sensitivity analyses. Results Patients in the BPT group showed a significantly larger decrease in depression scores compared with the EP on the MADRS (drop of 8.4 vs. 3.0 points, p = .002, Cohen’s d = 0.55). In the confounder-adjusted regression analyses, group allocation was found to be the only significant predictor of the post-intervention MADRS score (β = − 5.60, p = .001) besides the baseline MADRS score. Further significant differences in change scores between the BPT and the EP were found for anxiety (p = .046, d = 0.35), body image (p = .018, d = 0.42), and global self-esteem (p = .011, d = 0.45). Conclusions The study provides evidence that the manualised BPT is not only effective in alleviating depressive symptoms but even goes beyond the effect of mere physical exercise. Based on these findings, the BPT should be considered as a complementary therapeutic approach. Trial registration Trial identification number: ISRCTN12457760: Study KuS (Klettern und Stimmung - Climbing and Mood) combined boulder and psychotherapy against depression, registered retrospectively on July 26th, 2017