Falk Leichsenring1, Christiane Steinert1, Jürgen Hoyer2. 1. Department of Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy Justus-Liebig-University Giessen Ludwigstraße 76 35390 Gießen Germany. 2. Technische Universität Dresden Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy 01069 Dresden Deutschland.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Depression may be treated by psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy or their combination. There is an ongoing debate whether one of these approaches is possibly superior. A recent meta-analysis reported results in favour of pharmacotherapy. METHODS: Individual studies and meta-analyses on the comparative efficacy of psychotherapy vs. pharmacotherapy were reviewed. RESULTS: Evidence suggests that psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy are equally efficacious in the short-term, but psychotherapy is superior in the long-term. For the recently stated hypothesis that pharmacotherapy is superior to psychotherapy in studies without a pill placebo condition, which implies equally including a positive expectancy effect for both pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy no evidence was found. CONCLUSION: Depression may be treated by psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy with equivalent results in the short-term and advantages for psychotherapy in the long-term. As the rates of response and remission are still limited in both treatments, further improvement of treatments is required.
OBJECTIVES:Depression may be treated by psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy or their combination. There is an ongoing debate whether one of these approaches is possibly superior. A recent meta-analysis reported results in favour of pharmacotherapy. METHODS: Individual studies and meta-analyses on the comparative efficacy of psychotherapy vs. pharmacotherapy were reviewed. RESULTS: Evidence suggests that psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy are equally efficacious in the short-term, but psychotherapy is superior in the long-term. For the recently stated hypothesis that pharmacotherapy is superior to psychotherapy in studies without a pill placebo condition, which implies equally including a positive expectancy effect for both pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy no evidence was found. CONCLUSION:Depression may be treated by psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy with equivalent results in the short-term and advantages for psychotherapy in the long-term. As the rates of response and remission are still limited in both treatments, further improvement of treatments is required.
Authors: Liye Zou; Albert Yeung; Chunxiao Li; Gao-Xia Wei; Kevin W Chen; Patricia Anne Kinser; Jessie S M Chan; Zhanbing Ren Journal: J Clin Med Date: 2018-08-01 Impact factor: 4.241