Posted by greywolf on April 6, 2006, at 17:09:51
In reply to Re: Drugs versus Psychotherapy - Backlash? » SLS, posted by linkadge on April 6, 2006, at 16:04:11
First, I'll second the folks who've already speculated that the depression spectrum has widened in recent years, in part due to greater public acceptance of medications. Given that, I think that the applicability of any particular study's findings to severe or treatment resistant depression depends on whether the population was overbalanced toward mild/moderate depression.
Second, I suspect that accurately evaluating effectiveness of therapy is very difficult to do, regardless of what study authors may claim. Those who have had success in therapy invariably have committed themselves to it, often over a long period of time. I'd suggest that once you've invested a significant amount of time in therapy, and have built relationships with therapists (instead of switching to a new med at will), you're probably likely to report success. To do otherwise would essentially be admitting that you've been wasting all that time in sessions.
Third, I would bet that mild depression, transient seasonal depression, event-induced depression, etc., are very susceptible to therapy simply because they're less debilitating.
poster:greywolf
thread:629584
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060403/msgs/629771.html