Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy
Open Access

Cognitive therapy vs. Anti-depressants in the treatment of depression: A literature review

Joint Event on World Summit on Stress, Mindfulness and Philosophy & 5^th International Conference on Stress, Mental Health and Dementia

August 27-28, 2018 | Boston, USA

Sibin Nair and Fernandez A

Saint James School of Medicine, USA

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Psychol Psychother

Abstract :

Objectives: Depression is one of the leading causes of disability in the United States and the primary treatment for this mental illness is currently cognitive behavioral therapy adjunctive with medications like Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors. We are comparing research articles that will analyze the efficacy of Cognitive monotherapy vs. medications alone and look to plot the correlation via mixed or indirect treatment comparison between these two therapy approaches. We look at the data established in each of the studies that comply with our inclusion criteria and discuss the any possible statistically significant relationship that can be determined from the studies.

Methods: This involves accessing research articles via credible sources like PubMed, JAMA Psychiatry, Taylor and Francis Online, Journal of Affective Disorders and Journal of Mental Health. By searching for articles via keywords like “cognitive monotherapy” and “antidepressants” and using the inclusion criteria to filter out the outlying studies, we hope to have a minimum of three or more articles that will provide enough data and statistics to determine a significant contrast between CBT vs medications in the treatment of MDD. This involves research on certain variables in each study including the lack of conflict of interest, the various scales of depression being used to analyze (i.e: HAM-D, MADRS, experience of the psychiatrists conducting the CBT, the trials being blinded and randomized to prevent any bias. Statistical analysis performed for each study will be analyzed and compared to each other. If the analysis involves CBT vs placebo or medications vs. placebo, this data is still valid to create an indirect contrast between CBT and medications.

Conclusions: Out of the five articles researched, Weitz and her colleagues did not report any moderate differences between Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Anti-Depressant Medications (ADM). The other research articles suggest that CBT is a better alternative for mild and moderate depression with more enduring effects in comparison to anti-depressants. In terms of severe depression, there is no significant correlation for CBT being a more effective treatment than anti-depressants

Biography :

Sibin Nair went to William P Clements High School in the sweet suburb of Sugar Land, Texas before going to the University of Texas at Austin graduating with a B.S in Human Biology with a concentration on Genetics and Biotechnology. He decided to pursue both clinical experience and research by continuing observer ships and joining the Neuro-Inflammation and Immune Psychiatry team at East Tennessee State University.

E-mail: sibinnair31@gmail.com