Posted by Squiggles on April 8, 2006, at 20:06:05
In reply to Drugs versus Psychotherapy - Backlash?, posted by SLS on April 6, 2006, at 9:43:54
> All of a sudden, psychotherapy is as effective as drug therapy for treating depression!
>
> That's right.
>
> Just look at the medical literature.
>Uhm, which medical literature is that?
> Less than a decade ago, nearly all of the double-blind studies demonstrated a clear advantage to drug therapy over psychotherapy for treating depression.
>
> Now, it is difficult to find such studies. Most of the current literature claims equal effectiveness between the two modes of treatment.
>
> How can this be?Indeed;
>
> Can it be that the emergence of CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) as the psychotherapeutic treatment of choice has drastically improved the response rate to psychotherapy?Highly unlikely as there is nothing
to improve on - a questionnaire is
a questionnaire is a questionnaire;
>
> Have current investigations defined depression in a different way than they did ten years ago?Possibly;
>
> Have the rating methods or measurement standards that define treatment success changed?Very probable;
>
> Is there a backlash against using drugs to treat depression to be found in the field of psychiatric investigation?Well, maybe doctors are getting sick of
trying 100 more new drugs and have run
out of new diseases to invent;
> A little of all the above?
>
> What's going on?
>
I don't know Scott; I just hope common sense
and knowledge eventually meet at the crossroads
of signs and symptoms in medicine.Squiggles
poster:Squiggles
thread:629584
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060408/msgs/630702.html