Sunday, October 7, 2007

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Reduces Risks of Teen Antidepressant Use

The combination of fluoxetine (Prozac) and cognitive behavior therapy for depressed teens may accelerate treatment response and protect against suicidality.

In a randomized trial, combination therapy was not superior to fluoxetine or cognitive behavior therapy after 36 weeks, reported John S. March, M.D., M.P.H., of Duke here, and colleagues, in the October issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

But a previously published analysis of the same patients, which showed an early advantage in response rate at 12 weeks with combination therapy (73% versus 62% and 48%), suggests that it may be a superior strategy, they said.

"Because accelerating symptom reduction by using medication is an important clinical outcome in psychiatry, as it is in other areas of medicine, use of fluoxetine should be made widely available, not discouraged," they wrote.

READ MORE @ MEDPAGE TODAY