While studies have shown that cognitive therapy is an effective treatment for depression, it has still not been clear the role therapists' training and expertise plays in making treatment successful. A new study finds that depressed patients show more symptom improvement when their therapists more competently follow the guidelines for delivering cognitive therapy...
11 Vote(s)
July 7, 2010
June 6, 2010
Monoamine Shock
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a crude but effective treatment for depression. It consists of applying a brief alternating current to the brain in order to induce a generalized seizure, which usually lasts for less than half a minute. It looks nothing like the picture to the left.ECT is typically given three times per week, and a dozen sessions are enough to produce a dramatic improvement in
17 Vote(s)
17 Vote(s)
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February 24, 2010
Physical Actvity and Mental Health
Babyak (2000) examined the use of physical activity as a treatment for depression. Participants classified as clinically depressed were given, aerobic exercise, drugs or both as treatment. The exercise only group recovered as well as the other groups but had a lower relapse rate, perhaps caused by the participants feeling that they had a more active role in their treatment. The exercise group
17 Vote(s)
17 Vote(s)
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February 23, 2010
Belief in a caring god improves response to medical treatment for depression, study finds
In patients diagnosed with clinical depression, belief in a concerned god can improve response to medical treatment, according to a new paper.
13 Vote(s)
13 Vote(s)
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January 6, 2010
Few Americans With Major Depression Receive Adequate Treatment
Many U.S. adults with major depression do not receive treatment for depression or therapy based on treatment guidelines, and some racial and ethnic groups have even lower rates of adequate depression care, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals...
10 Vote(s)
10 Vote(s)
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September 4, 2009
Predicting Antidepressant Response with EEG
One of the limitations of antidepressants is that they don't always work. Worse, they don't work in an unpredictable way. Some people benefit from some drugs, and others don't, but there's no way of knowing in advance what will happen in any particular case - or of telling which pill is right for which person.As a result, drug treatment for depression generally involves starting with a cheap medi
8 Vote(s)
8 Vote(s)
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August 12, 2009
Predicting who will respond to a particular treatment for depression
by Michael D. Anestis, M.S. Recently, I wrote an article in which I described the evidence that variations of cognitive-behavioral therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy perform as well as or better than antidepressant medication in the treatment of depression. In the...
13 Vote(s)
13 Vote(s)
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July 6, 2009
A kava panorama
ABC Radio National's Bush Telegraph has a special programme on a psychoactive plant called kava that has been used ceremonially by Pacific Islanders for generations and has recently been researched as a treatment for depression and anxiety.The effects of kava are usually compared to alcohol as it has a sedating and relaxing effect, although it produces far less thinking impairment than booze so t
13 Vote(s)
13 Vote(s)
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