How to Treat Depression

Anxiety and Depression are the two most common mental and emotional problems faced by Americans and especially American youth. It is, therefore, important, to know how to treat the people who suffer so greatly from them.

In the treatment of depression, recent research shows that drugs are in and therapy is out. Comparing data from two large national surveys, researchers found the following trends:

Three times as many Americans sought outpatient treatment in 1997 as in 1987.

Antidepressant use doubled during the decade among patients seeking treatment.

Some 74% used drugs to treat their depression in 1997, compared to 37% in 1987. (This is exactly twice as many using drugs.)

Among those seeking treatment, the proportion receiving psychotherapy declined from 71% to 60% during the 10-year period.

And the average number of visits to a talk therapist declined from 12.6 in 1987 to 8.7 in 1997.

What could account for such a shift from talk therapy to drug therapy? Especially when we know for sure that talk therapy is as effective as drugs, is less expensive in the long run, and has fewer problems than drug treatment?

About 80% of the time, drugs alone are not enough. Talk therapy has much greater outcomes in the long term. This is especially true when the talk therapist helps the client find supportive resources at home, at church and in the community.