Psychotherapy News and Research

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Psychotherapy is “talk” therapy. It involves talking with a mental health professional to treat a mental illness. Psychotherapy can occur one-on-one or in a group. Research shows that support from family and friends can be an important part of therapy.

Depression among patients with coronary artery disease

Depression has long had a popular link to cardiovascular disease and death. However, only during the last 15 years scientific evidence supporting this common wisdom has been available (Glassman et al., 2007a).

16 Oct 2007

Depressed adolescents respond best to psychotherapy and antidepressant medication

A combination of psychotherapy and antidepressant medication appears to be the most effective treatment for adolescents with major depressive disorder - more than medication alone or psychotherapy alone, according to results from a major clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

2 Oct 2007

$2.19 million grant to study therapy for women with depression

A University of Rochester Medical Center psychologist has received a $2.19 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health that will fund a study of the effectiveness of Interpersonal Psychotherapy in the treatment of women with depression and a history of childhood sexual abuse.

27 Sep 2007

Program for treating depression improves workers productivity

Employees seeking treatment for depression who participated in a program that included a telephone outreach intervention had fewer symptoms, worked more hours and had greater job retention than participants receiving usual care, according to a study in the September 26 issue of JAMA.

26 Sep 2007

Treating depression in the workplace pays off for workers and employers

Employers prepared to pick up the cost of providing treatment for depression amongst their workers could reap benefits in terms of improved productivity and greater job retention.

25 Sep 2007

Primary care depression treatment often does not follow quality guidelines

Most patients with depression who are treated by primary care physicians do not receive care consistent with quality standards, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

5 Sep 2007

Urgent need for better understanding of bipolar disease in children and adolescents

The number of visits to a doctor's office that resulted in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents has increased by 40 times over the last decade, reported researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

4 Sep 2007

Involving parents in therapy doubles success rates for bulimia treatment

In the first randomized controlled trial for adolescent bulimia nervosa to be completed in the US, researchers show that mobilizing parents to help an adolescent overcome the disorder can double the percentage of teens who were able to abstain from binge eating and purging after six months.

4 Sep 2007

Depression over-diagnosed and many people just blue

An Australian psychiatrist has accused the medical profession of over-diagnosing depression, and says thousands of people are wrongly being prescribed drugs to treat it.

20 Aug 2007

Emotional brain circuits and depression

In what may be the first study to use brain imaging to look at the neural circuits involved in emotional control in patients with depression, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found that brains of people with clinical depression react very differently than those of healthy people when trying to cope with negative situations.

16 Aug 2007

Displaced adolescent girls benefit from group therapy

Group interpersonal psychotherapy is effective in reducing depressive symptoms among adolescent girls affected by war and displacement, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions. However, the same treatment was not as effective in boys.

31 Jul 2007

Controversy over use of antipsychotic drugs for dementia

Antipsychotic drugs are approved mainly for treating schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but they are also used for many other purposes.

27 Jul 2007

Antipsychotic drugs for dementia

Antipsychotic drugs are approved mainly for treating schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but they are also used for many other purposes.

27 Jul 2007

Telephone counseling coaxes reluctant alcoholics into treatment

Telephone counseling might be an effective primary care intervention for men who are not seeking treatment for their alcohol dependence or abuse, according to a new study.

25 Jul 2007

Group therapy does not prolong the lives of women with metastatic breast cancer

Earlier results from the same researcher had suggested a survival benefit of group therapy for women with metastatic breast cancer. However, the new study did find that women with estrogen receptor (ER) negative tumors did show survival benefit, and that group therapy improved quality of life (QOL).

23 Jul 2007

D-Cycloserine found to help people with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have found that a drug originally developed to fight tuberculosis may help people with obsessive-compulsive disorder make more progress in therapy sessions.

20 Jul 2007

Group talk helps men with erectile dysfunction

Taking part in group psychotherapy can help men who have erectile dysfunction to over come their problem, and adding sildenafil to group therapy was more effective that sildenafil alone.

18 Jul 2007

SSRIs associated with lower bone density in older men and women

The class of antidepressant medications known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors may be associated with an increased rate of bone loss in older men and women, according to two articles in the June 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

26 Jun 2007

How accurate are recovered memories?

A decade or so ago, a spate of high profile legal cases arose in which people were accused, and often convicted, on the basis of recovered memories.

17 Jun 2007

Cognitive behavioral therapy workshops effective at getting men to seek help for insomnia

Despite the positive results that it brings in the treatment of insomnia, access to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been difficult given the limited awareness of CBT services amongst referrers such as primary care providers.

17 Jun 2007