For patients who have recurrent major depressive disorder, getting on the course that is best back to good health is a matter of crucial importance, sometimes even to their livelihood. A current study found that after undergoing acute phase cognitive therapy, patients do just as well with either ongoing treatment or by taking the antidepressant drug fluoxetine, commonly known as Prozac, and both treatments help patients avoid relapse.
Researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSMC) and also the University of Pennsylvania studied 241 adults who had already experienced the initial period of cognitive therapy, meaning 12 weeks of 16 to 20 person sessions. The groups split to get various treatments: 86 received continued cognitive therapy every other week, and eventually monthly. Another 86 patients received Prozac, along with a placebo was received by the final 69. An unaffiliated interviewer evaluated after four months and again after eight months the participants.
The patients who received either therapy or Prozac revealed similar relapse rates during the very first eight months of treatment, with 18.3 percent of those in therapy relapsing, and 18 percent of those on Prozac relapsing. This was significantly much better compared to individuals who received the placebo, as 32.7 percent of these people relapsed, the study, published in JAMA Psychchiatry, stated.
The results of the study are in line with other research how treatment compares to drug in other kinds of said Deb Serani PsyD depression, and writer of Living with Depression. Antidepressants and talk treatment both create the same shift in the pre-frontal cortex of the brain. “The takeaway from this is that there is actually no wrong approach,” Serani said. “It is about what suits your needs.”
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Matter of Private Preference
“We are considering supplying efficacious alternatives — we just need visitors to get better regardless of how they get there,” said study author Robin Jarrett, PhD, psychiatry professor at UTSMC.
Importance of First Treatment
The researchers followed up with the patients for the next year when they ceased receiving either treatment or the medications, and found that while the patients receiving intervention did marginally better (35.1 percent had return on Prozac while 35 percent of those getting therapy had return), the relapse rate was not significantly different than those who on the placebo (return rate of 42.7 percent).
The researchers were surprised these recurrence rates were so similar, Jarrett said. The similar rates may be because all of the adults participating in the trial initially had therapy, which could have given them “some protection,” Jarrett said.
The researchers noted that while they anticipated the patients in treatment to do better, and hopefully relapse even less often than those on the drug, they did note that the patients receiving therapy were more prone to continue together with the program than those who received drugs. This could be because each of the players knew they’d be receiving cognitive therapy in the very first section of the analysis, and so the patients who participated treatment that is preferred to drugs, said Jarrett.
These rates are a lot lower than relapse rates for people who don’t do initial cognitive therapy, so the most powerful point the study makes is that this intervention is quite crucial, said Dr. Shelton. In comparison, the added advantage of taking the antidepressant or continuing either therapy is not large in comparison to the big benefit of receiving initial treatment, he said.
The study’s results apply to people who are high risk for relapse and recurrence, Jarrett highlighted, noting that it is significant which they know they “have a choice even if they’re at higher risk.”??
The research was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, which applies Jarrett as a consultant. For the first six years of data collection, the Prozac was supplied by Eli Lilly.??
