Depression Therapy by Phone May Work
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
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.
SOURCES: Ludman,
E. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, April 2007; vol 75. News release,