Fw: Psychotherapy Makes a Comeback as a Treatment for Depression ?

Q.A growing body of research is showing that combining antidepressants and psychotherapy is significantly better at driving away despair than either treatment alone.

A.A growing number of patients taking antidepressants are dissatisfied with their treatment. The book has sparked a great deal of controversy, but the fact is that a growing number of patients taking antidepressants are dissatisfied with their treatment. A 1999 survey by the National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association of 1,400 patients taking (or who had taken) antidepressants found that 80% reported troublesome side effects; a similar number said that depression continued to impair their home and work lives despite treatment. Other surveys have found that as many as 60% of patients on antidepressants experience some sexual dysfunction. An estimated 28 million adult Americans--one out of ten people--use antidepressants, roughly the same number who experience major depression in a given year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Various studies have shown that nearly two-thirds of depressed people do not get the help they need, so exactly who all these people on antidepressants are remains unclear. About 3% of the population suffers from a chronic form of depression (lasting 2 years or more). James P. McCullough, a psychologist at Virginia Commonwealth University who developed cognitive behavioral analysis (the type of therapy used in the Chronic Depression study), has been investigating chronic depression for 25 years. To McCullough, depression isn't simply a matter of disordered brain chemicals. "It is a composite of neurological, environmental, psychological, and emotional causes--and ultimately, a lifestyle disorder," he says. "If you've been depressed for most of your life, recovery involves learning new ways to live--something a pill alone can't do." Cognitive behavioral analysis has a good track record of treating chronic depression in several small studies--the reason why it was chosen for the Chronic Depression study, Dr. Keller says. The treatment draws on several forms of therapy: Behavioral therapy, which helps people analyze the impact of their behavior, Cognitive therapy, which challenges people's belief systems, and Interpersonal therapy, which emphasizes problem-solving and personal relationships, (including the doctor-patient bond).

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