The Obsessive Compulsive Disorder service for children and adolescents run by SLaM (South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust) is the only one in the country that provides this range of treatments. It is currently running two trials which they hope will improve outcomes. One is assessing Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) delivered by telephone and the other is investigating the prescribing of the drug D-Cycloserine.
A survey rolled out by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has found that despite recommendations by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), 65% of UK general practitioners do not initiate psychologcal therapies for depressed patients within two months. The survey was conducted in conjunction with the mental health charity MIND who are campagning for better therapy services.
British research has concluded that psychological therapy is 32 times more effective in restoring happiness than a quick fix of money. Data on the well being of thousands of people was examined and the results of the study can be read in the journal Health Economics Policy and Law
There are fears that the programme Improving Access to Psychological Therapies could be put at risk due to the recession. Leaders of the Royal Society of Psychiatrists and the Mental Health Network are concerned that job losses will result in reduced services. The report voicing these concerns will be published today at the Mental Health Network’s annual conference
A randomised controlled trial (RCT) published in the October edition of the Archives of General Psychiatry has concluded that over the phone therapy delivered to patients who are already receiving antidepressant medication is cost effective over two years. This builds on an earlier study published in the the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Thirty eight children who received cognitive behavioural family-based therapy (CBFT) seven years ago have been reassessed to measure the long term effectiveness of their treatment. The Australian study published in the Jounal of Anxiety Disorders concluded that CBFT was still effective for childhood Obsessive Compulsive Disorders after seven years.A new study on depression and the delivery of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has been published in The Lancet. Researchers from the University of Bristol studied 297 depression sufferers, of whom half received conventional CBT and half received online CBT. Their findings showed that the online therapy was more beneficial than the face-to-face option.
An American study to be published in the August 9th online edition of the journal Stroke says that using a combination of antidepressants with cognitive behavioural therapy improves the recovery from clinical depression for patients who have suffered a stroke. The research found that after eight weeks, within a cohort of 101 patients, the decrease in depression scores was 47% for those on combined treatment compared to 32% for those who had received standard care.
