Purpose: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is increasing in the world. Due to 
the reciprocal effects of psychological conditions with the severity 
and recurrence of the MS, it is important to choose the appropriate 
treatment approach. The aim of study was conducted to compare the 
effectiveness of gestalt therapy (GT), behavioral activation (BA) 
and placebo on depression in women with (RR-MS).
Materials and Methods: This clinical trial study was done on 60 
women with (RRMS) who referred to MS clinic of Tehran’s Rasool 
Hospital in 2019-2020. The participants were randomly allocated to 
four groups including GT, BA, placebo and control. GT and BA 
groups received eight 90-minute sessions of psychotherapy once a 
week. placebo group used 250 mg rice flour capsules once a day. 
The control group did not receive any intervention. All groups 
fulfilled the Beck depression inventory (1996) in the pre-test, posttest and follow-up stages. Data was analyzed using SPSS-25 and 
repeated measures analysis of variance method .
Findings: The implementation of GT and BA compared to placebo 
and control led to reduction in depression scores in the post-test and 
follow-up stages (p<0.05). While GT and BA did not have a 
significant difference.
Conclusion: GT and BA were effective in reduction depression in 
women with RR-MS and did not differ from each other. Placebo had 
no effect on reducing the depression of these women.