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Lasting Improvement Seen in 18-Month Study

By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

March 22, 2007 — Getting depression therapy by phone may have lasting benefits, a new study shows.

The study included 393 moderately depressed adults who had just started taking antidepressants.

Participants who got 10-12 phone therapy sessions over a year, in addition to standard depression care, showed a greater improvement in depression symptoms than those who only got standard depression care with no phone therapy.

Those benefits lasted at least six months after the last phone therapy session.

The findings appear in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

Depression Therapy Study’s Details

The study included depression patients enrolled in Group Health Cooperative, a Seattle-area health maintenance organization (HMO). They were about 44 years old, on average; most were white women.

The patients were split into two groups. One group got depression therapy by phone for a year, in addition to standard depression treatment. The other group got standard depression care without phone therapy.

Patients in the phone therapy group got 10-12 sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy over the course of a year from specially trained counselors with master’s degrees in psychology.

The patients and counselors never met in person. The counselors called the patients to set up the phone therapy appointments. Patients in both groups were allowed to get in-person counseling, but few did so.

Depression Therapy Phone Sessions

The phone therapy sessions were designed to help patients defuse negative thoughts, cultivate pleasant and rewarding activities, and manage their depression symptoms.

The researchers — who work for Group Health Cooperative — interviewed all patients in both groups periodically over a year and a half to gauge their depression symptoms.

The follow-up period ended six months after the phone therapy sessions ended. Even so, patients in the phone therapy group reported a greater improvement in their depression symptoms, compared with those in the standard care group, at the end of the follow-up period.

Those findings follow an earlier report from the researchers showing greater short-term improvement in depression symptoms with phone therapy.

Benefits Lasted After Therapy Ended

“We were surprised at how well the positive effects were maintained over time,” researcher Everette Ludman, PhD, says in a Group Health Cooperative news release.

Ludman is a senior research associate with the Group Health Center for Health Studies.

Patients in the phone therapy group were more likely to take their antidepressants. But that didn’t completely explain the benefits seen in the phone therapy group, note the researchers.

The study doesn’t show what aspects of the phone therapy sessions were most helpful.

Ludman and colleagues aren’t suggesting phone therapy as a substitute for other depression treatment.

But the researchers say adding phone therapy to depression treatment could help some patients, especially since many patients don’t get in-person counseling.

See also Phone Bases Therapy Eases Depression at ScienceDaily.com

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Are our problems serious enough to seek help?

For a number of reasons, couples tend to underestimate the severity of their problems. An intimate relationship is usually very important to a person and the thought that something might be seriously wrong with it can be quite threatening. The couple may mistake the problems for a normal stage in the relationship.

Some people feel that the need to seek help is a personal failure and this view is unfortunately reinforced by the some-times negative social attitudes that linger towards people seeking this type of help. Finally, some people have difficulty or feel embarrassed about asking for help, question whether they deserve it, or whether their problems are “really serious enough.” If you think you might need help, it is worth investigating.

We are involved in a relationship that is just becoming serious. Is there anything we can do to prevent problems?

Some members of the clergy and couple therapists offer “premarital counseling” for couples who are beginning their relationship and want to take a preventive approach to problems. The better programs of this nature can help a couple anticipate and deal with some of the issues they will face before they become problems.

Is this just a phase we’re going through or do we really need help?

At one time or another all couples go through difficult changes and stages and experience stress. How much stress each person can, and is willing to, tolerate at any particular time varies. If you feel your stress level is intolerable or that you have reached an impasse, you should seek help.

Some people ignore problems and hope they will go away. Other people find they are unable to solve their difficulties despite repeated attempts to do so. If problems in your relationship persist, or if you can’t solve them in a way that is acceptable to both of you, do not wait to go for help. Problems are easier to resolve before they become larger and when there are still positive feelings in the relationship.

We’re intelligent people. Why can’t we sort out our own problems?

Feelings are in a different realm from logic and cannot always be resolved on an intellectual level. Sometimes an objective third party is needed to mediate conflict, or to help clarify what the issue means to each of the partners.

We’re fighting a lot and can’t agree on anything.

People who fight often feel as though they are going around in circles. Unresolved issues that continue to bother a person can begin to color everything, and to obscure the original causes of feelings of anger or outrage. There may be aspects of the original problem that were fully or partly unconscious to begin with. These issues can become further obscured as both partners begin to resent each other’s anger, coldness, dissatisfaction, distance, etc.

The aim of couple therapy is to clarify the important issues in your relationship. Although you and your partner may not agree on all of them, therapy may enable you to identify the most significant problem areas, consider possible solutions and start implementing those that fit your situation.

We’ve been this way for years. What good will couple therapy do?

People develop patterns for handling difficulties. Some of these patterns fail to solve the problems; they increase tension instead. If both of you recognize a need for change and are prepared to do something about it, couple therapy can provide the extra support you may need during this difficult process. The therapist may also be able to offer a perspective that is not obvious to you and your partner.

For more info on couples phone therapy…

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According to The Journal of the American Medical Association “Talking with a therapist about what triggers suicidal thoughts may prevent repeat suicide attempts in people who have previously attempted suicide.”

Though many suicidal persons may feel that there are no other options in their life besides suicide, speaking with a therapist often helps individuals see different options and solutions to their life’s problems other than suicide. Talk therapy may help a suicidal person cope with and identify stressors that trigger suicidal thoughts.

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Loneliness is a common emotion all of humans feel at some point in their lives. You can feel lonely even when surrounded by others.  How fo you deal or cope with your loneliness?

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