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Re: talk therapy - beg to differ -- my two cents

Posted by Tony P on September 9, 2001, at 0:33:57

In reply to Re: talk therapy - beg to differ -- my two cents, posted by akc on September 8, 2001, at 20:29:20

There was a study recently -- wish I could give you reference, but I probably saw the summary in Scientific American -- of depressed people on medication and/or counselling. The two groups on medication alone and counselling alone did about equally well (or badly); the group receiving both did much better, not just a small difference, but (if I remember correctly) twice as well. It was like 30% had significant improvement on mrds alone or psychotherapy alone, but 60% improved on the combination. Please don't quote me, i'm just guessing aat the numbers from memory!

Those are just group statistics, but I can also personally state that both 1:1 couselling and peer support groups have been a very important part of my recovery in the past - but I wasn't really getting anywhere until I started on A/D.

Guess I'd better phone my counselor (whom I haven't seen for a couple of months) and book an appointment next week ....

Tony P

> > Adamie - Talk therapy, depending on the kind, can definitely help medical conditions. Cognitive therapy can help people learn to cope with their disorder, thus improving their quality of life. It can also help to change a person from a victim of a disease, and empower tham to take control of the disorder, rather than the disorder controling them.
> >
> > - Cam
>
> I have to jump in here and add my support to what Cam says. I can only speak from my experience. But medication alone would not solve my disease. I had developed years of poor coping mechanisms (from alcoholism to isolating myself from others to black and white thinking and so on and so on) in an attempt to control/treat my disease. Adding a medicine, even the right medicine, didn't take these poor coping skills away. I've needed help in identifying and relearning these skills.
>
> And I will add, because it has been a battle these past two years to find the "right" medicine (or combination of medicines), I have needed the help of talk therapy in learning how to accept that I have a chronic, even possibly deadly, illness. As Cam said -- to do that without taking the role of a victim -- I couldn't have done that without the help of a very good therapist. I think this acceptance has helped me as I have worked with my pdoc in trying to find the right combination of meds.
>
> akc


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poster:Tony P thread:78191
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