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At a closer analysis, psychotherapy is not as effective as psychologists may think.
STATES CHRONICLE – After a minute analysis of medical literature, it has been discovered that psychotherapy is overrated, scientists say. Talk-based therapies are not as effective as some psychologists might consider them; therefore, they should be replaced with cognitive behavioral methods.
The effectiveness of psychotherapy has been reassessed after researchers have analyzed both the published and the unpublished literature of depression treatments. According to researchers, talk therapies appear to be efficient because only the relevant studies get published. The remaining non-relevant literatures is not published leading scientists into the wrong conclusion that psychotherapy should be the most recommended treatment.
The recent analysis that researchers have made on the published and unpublished medical literature has proven that psychotherapy is only 25 percent effective. The same is valid for drug-based treatments of depression, which are rarely effective, unless coupled with medical talks.
Researchers from the National Institute of Health gathered a comprehensive database of clinical trials conducted between 1972 and 2008. The analysis of the documents indicated that talk therapies may alleviate some of patients’ grievances. However, most of the times, depressions are very hard to diagnose and treat because symptoms can vary from one particular individual to another.
When asked why they did not publish the irrelevant studies, most psychologists have stated that they did not consider the findings could have a strong impact. The analysis of the medical literature has led to other interesting findings, as well.
More specifically, scientists have noticed that depression drugs used to be administered only for severe cases, but recent experiments indicate therapists tend to use depression drugs even for mild cases of depression.
According to the current research, combining talk therapies with depression drugs is much more effective than the use of one single method. However, neither of the two procedures are as effective as the cognitive behavior therapy.
The new method appears to be more effective because it deals with patients’ anxiety and depression, but it can also identify the factors that lead to such feelings. The procedure has been effective in the treatment of depressions and mental illnesses, as well.
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