Pet Belief -
Apr. 5th, 2005 07:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kyburgYou don't need drugs to kick depression; though, I do wonder if in a lot of cases, cognitive work and medication need to be used together for best effect.
"On the whole, these findings do not support the current American Psychiatric Association guideline, based on the TDCRP (the Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program) that 'most (moderately and severely depressed) patients will require medication,' " the study authors wrote.
"It appears that cognitive therapy can be as effective as medications, even among more severely depressed outpatients, at least when provided by experienced cognitive therapists," they wrote.
The report doesn't specify findings when medication and cognitive work were used together; it's my understanding that combination is the most successful of all.
Medication alone is cheaper; but it certainly doesn't appear to prevent future depressive periods. But cognitive work does not require a therapist once you've got it down - in my case, I have my books and I can add a pad of paper and a pencil at any time. Cognitive therapy is also not a two year, once or twice a week session obligation. *thinks* I was once a week for two months at my worst, and then nine months of once a month - and really, I cancelled out of the last three months. Too busy. My therapist was good with this - he preferred not to hospitalize anyone as he believed that "life is what happens to us while we're busy planning for other things."
*looks at study* 16 weeks. That's about right.
I'm also not of the mind, even more so now, that SSRI's should be considered "replacement" therapy - yes, depressive illnesses tend to cluster in families, but anyone dealing with dysfunctional families knows that there are a ton of landmines you have to deal that are learned behaviors. Mom does it; her mother did it too. Oh, and great-granddad was a winner. You ought to see the fallout....
You ought to see the history in the men in my family, particularly on Dad's side of the family. They've self-medicated for generations - the result has been a history of substance abuse that only one male member of my family has escaped in five generations. Dad died of an accidental overdose of barbiturates in 1967 (some people did NOT survive the sixties, sadly), but his father died of stomach cancer after being a fifth-a-day alcoholic, just like his father. And my brother's children, all three of the boys have police records related to drug possession and use. (Older brother seems to have escaped - but there are days I wonder. He also has my aversion to medication, which might explain it.) Younger brother got nailed, but has been in recovery for over 8 years now.
There are a lot of reasons people get depressed. There are also more than a couple of ways to deal/treat the depression.
And I'm sorry - just prescribing medication for the rest of your life is dumb-ass lazy. At least in this case, I think the research supports that stance.
(Paxil. "Usually." Wonder if they have any specs on the suicides attempted....)
"On the whole, these findings do not support the current American Psychiatric Association guideline, based on the TDCRP (the Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program) that 'most (moderately and severely depressed) patients will require medication,' " the study authors wrote.
"It appears that cognitive therapy can be as effective as medications, even among more severely depressed outpatients, at least when provided by experienced cognitive therapists," they wrote.
The report doesn't specify findings when medication and cognitive work were used together; it's my understanding that combination is the most successful of all.
Medication alone is cheaper; but it certainly doesn't appear to prevent future depressive periods. But cognitive work does not require a therapist once you've got it down - in my case, I have my books and I can add a pad of paper and a pencil at any time. Cognitive therapy is also not a two year, once or twice a week session obligation. *thinks* I was once a week for two months at my worst, and then nine months of once a month - and really, I cancelled out of the last three months. Too busy. My therapist was good with this - he preferred not to hospitalize anyone as he believed that "life is what happens to us while we're busy planning for other things."
*looks at study* 16 weeks. That's about right.
I'm also not of the mind, even more so now, that SSRI's should be considered "replacement" therapy - yes, depressive illnesses tend to cluster in families, but anyone dealing with dysfunctional families knows that there are a ton of landmines you have to deal that are learned behaviors. Mom does it; her mother did it too. Oh, and great-granddad was a winner. You ought to see the fallout....
You ought to see the history in the men in my family, particularly on Dad's side of the family. They've self-medicated for generations - the result has been a history of substance abuse that only one male member of my family has escaped in five generations. Dad died of an accidental overdose of barbiturates in 1967 (some people did NOT survive the sixties, sadly), but his father died of stomach cancer after being a fifth-a-day alcoholic, just like his father. And my brother's children, all three of the boys have police records related to drug possession and use. (Older brother seems to have escaped - but there are days I wonder. He also has my aversion to medication, which might explain it.) Younger brother got nailed, but has been in recovery for over 8 years now.
There are a lot of reasons people get depressed. There are also more than a couple of ways to deal/treat the depression.
And I'm sorry - just prescribing medication for the rest of your life is dumb-ass lazy. At least in this case, I think the research supports that stance.
(Paxil. "Usually." Wonder if they have any specs on the suicides attempted....)
