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Patients who choose depression
treatment do better
 NEW
YORK (Reuters Health)
- Allowing depressed patients to select their own treatment -- drug therapy,
counseling or a combination of both -- may improve outcomes, researchers in
Seattle report.
The
findings are based on a study of 335 adult with a clinical diagnosis of
depression. The subjects were surveyed regarding their preferred therapy and
this was compared with the actual treatment received.
Dr. Susan
C. Hedrick, from the VA Puget Sound Healthcare System, and colleagues, conducted
telephone interviews to assess changes in functional status, severity of
depression, disability, and other health outcomes at 1 week, 3 months, and 9
months.
Fifteen
percent of patients preferred medication alone and these subjects were older and
more likely to be white and married compared with the 24 percent who preferred
just counseling or the 60 percent who preferred both, the report indicates.
Overall,
72 percent of the subjects received treatment that matched their preference, the
investigators report in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
Although
depression symptoms improved among patients in both groups, those who received a
preferred treatment experienced more rapid improvements than those who received
a therapy not matching their preference.
Co-author
Dr. Edmund F. Chaney said in a statement: "The positive impact of treatment was
more noticeable in the early stages of treatment. Although we can't say for
certain, it might be that the preference-matched patients were better able to
stick with the treatment plan in the early stages."
SOURCE:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine, October 2005.
September
20, 2005
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