Study: Is CBT Effective In Patients with Depression?

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) may be beneficial to patients with depression who aren’t responding to antidepressants alone, and it is cost effective for patients, according to new research.

To explore the long-term effects of added CBT on patients with depression, researchers collected data from the CoBalT trial conducted in the United Kingdom and general practitioner notes from 2008 to 2010.
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Initially, 469 patients between the ages of 18 and 75, who were taking antidepressants for at least 6 weeks but still had symptoms of depression, were chosen to participate in a self-assessment questionnaire.

Based on the severity of symptoms, patients were separated into 2 groups: the usual care group, who were taking antidepressants alone, and the CBT group, who attended therapy in addition to taking antidepressants.

After a median of about 3.5 years, 248 patients completed the follow-up questionnaire, which used the BDI-II score (0-63) to evaluate depression symptoms.

Researchers found that patients in the CBT group reported a lower BDI-II score than the usual care group (19.2 vs. 23.4, respectively).

In addition, researchers found that patients in the CBT group spent an average of £343 on annual therapy, which calculates to a cost-effectiveness ratio of £5374 per quality-adjusted life-years. According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, that equates to a 92% probability of being cost effective.

“In view of this robust evidence of long-term effectiveness and the fact that the intervention represented good value-for-money, clinicians should discuss referral for CBT with all those for whom antidepressants are not effective,” researchers concluded.

--Amanda Balbi

Reference:

Wiles NJ, Thomas L, Turner N, et al. Long-term effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy as an adjunct to pharmacotherapy for treatment-resistant depression in primary care: follow-up of the CoBalT randomised controlled trial. The Lancet. Published online January 6, 2016. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(15)00495-2.