Tuesday, September 11, 2007

When Antidepressant Drugs Are Not Enough - A New Study On Their Combination With Psychotherapy

A group of Dutch investigators has reported on a new study on the combination of antidepressant drugs and psychotherapy in the September issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.

Although several forms of effective therapy exist for outpatients suffering from major depressive disorder, many patients do not profit from treatment. Combining psychotherapy and medication may be an effective strategy. However, earlier studies have rarely found a clear advantage for the combination. Where an advantage was found, a possible placebo effect of adding 2 types of treatment could not be ruled out as cause for the superior effect of the combination. A total of 353 patients were screened, of whom 193 were randomized over 4 conditions: nefazodone plus clinical management, interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), the combination of the two or the combination of IPT and pill-placebo. All patients suffered from major depressive disorder and had a score of at least 14 on the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale (HAMD).

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