Two things, not just one
The Wall Street Journal reports on the results of a study about depression treatment. Medication? Therapy? The study says both are most effective than either approach alone, at least in terms of adolescents.
A combination of medication and therapy helps depressed adolescents heal faster than medication or therapy alone, and with fewer incidents of the suicidal tendencies associated with unalloyed antidepressant use, according to findings in the largest and longest government-funded study of depressed teenagers.This study, published yesterday in the Archives of General Psychiatry, provides more evidence that a combination of the antidepressant Prozac and therapy can help overcome both problems.
The study's authors say the findings offer hope that teenagers can attain long-term recovery from the illness, which is marked by chronic relapses among patients of all ages. They hope that by treating adolescents for longer than three to four months -- the typical duration of such studies -- teens will reach their "maximal medical benefit" from treatment and be less likely to become depressed again in the future, said John March, chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Duke University School of Medicine and one of the study's authors.
Comments
My son has a mood disorder. It turns out that I do as well. The pediatrician prescribed ssri anti-depressants, and later the psychiatrist did the same.
After two hospitalizations, I insisted that they take him off the ssri's and try a mood stabilizer. POOF! No more mania, or depression. As it turns out, he was rapid cycling between mania and depression within minutes of each other.
After that I started looking into the connection of manic behaviour and SSRI medication in teens and juveniles. It is pretty scary. The only sniper style mass killings in this country prior to the introduction of ssri's to teens was by Charles White, the texas tower shooter, and he had a tumor on his amalyganglia. I just wish that Doctors wouldn't instantly jump to the SSRI's and would see about mood disorders first.
Posted by: luther T. | October 5, 2007 12:41 PM
How many children on anti-depressants receive or are able to access CBT from someone skilled in the art? Where accountability is lacking in the "real world" it is too easy for providers and provider organizations glibly cite study outcomes without actually achieving the same. Rarely does efficacy in academia translate into effectiveness in the community at large.
When we are dealing with the potential loss of life, isn't it time that providers deliver the "evidence based care" that makes a difference?
Posted by: Joe | October 6, 2007 11:01 AM