Switching treatments helps in chronic depression

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Switching from antidepressants to cognitive therapy - and vice versa - helps patients who fail to respond to initial treatment.
Although both antidepressants and cognitive therapy are effective treatments for depression, they do not work for all patients. A study from Stanford University School of Medicine now shows that switching from one to the other may be helpful.

A group of 140 patients who had not responded to nefazodone or cognitive therapy switched over to the other treatment. The response rate among those switching from nefazodone to therapy was 57 per cent and among those switching the other way it was 42 per cent. The findings suggest it could be well worthwhile persisting with treatment options in depression - even those with chronic depression are likely to respond if a different treatment is tried.

Source
Archives of General Psychiatry May 2005 Volume 62 pages 513-520

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