Items Tagged With cognitive behavioral therapy

A talking cure for depression called cognitive behavior therapy appears to cancel the risk of suicidal thinking or behavior associated with taking antidepressant medication, according to the most comprehensive and long-running study to date of depression treatment among adolescents.

The study, which followed for a year more than 600 adolescents being treated for chronic depression, found that four in five recovered entirely, or nearly so, when treated over nine months with medication, talk therapy or a combination of the two.

Patients taking medication showed significant signs of improvement up to six weeks earlier than those who received talk therapy alone, but were about twice as likely to report feeling suddenly suicidal. The combination of the two therapies, the authors found, produced the most rapid recovery and protected against sudden suicidal urges.

Read on