Go where the evidence leads on Depression Treatment

Go where the evidence leads on Depression Treatment

Health funders need to recognise the primacy and efficacy of Talk Therapy over Medication for depression, says Counselling Outcomes Researcher

With 17,000 New Zealand children (up to age 17) being prescribed anti-depressants, and a total of 1.4 million prescriptions being filled nationwide from July 2010 to June 2011, we are presenting to the world as a pretty miserable country to live in, and this apparent misery is being treated by methods in conflict with the evidence of what defines efficacious treatment" says Steve Taylor, Director of 24-7 Ltd, and Counselling Outcomes Researcher.

Firstly, there is not a pathological assessment anywhere in the world that can "test" for bio-chemical brain imbalance for depression (i.e. serotonin levels), yet anti-depressants are predominantly prescribed to treat just this assumed imbalance in the brain: prescription is thus an exercise in medicalised, glorified guesswork.

Secondly, "talk therapy" (itself sometimes combined with medical intervention), has consistently shown to achieve either the same or superior client outcomes as medical intervention alone, absent of physiological changes, or a host of side effects.

Thirdly, the Outcome Research is quite clear that the level of specialist training, experience, or model of intervention (e.g. Counsellor, Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Social worker, Mental Health worker, even belonging to a Professional Association) makes absolutely no difference to whether a client achieves a positive mental health outcome: this result is best influenced by the extra-therapeutic environment within which the client is in (40%), the nature of the therapeutic alliance a client develops with an interventionist (30%), the faith, hope and expectancy of the client in the interventionist, and the interventionist in their helping approach (15%), and the model of intervention, coupled with the interventionists allegiance to the model (15%).

"Given the above evidence, Government funding for talk therapy should at least equal the funding for medicalised interventions, should be available to all Talk Therapy Practitioners, regardless of any professional allegiance or corporate "club" membership, and clients should be able to receive adequate informed consent about all of the options available to them for treatment, and have their voices privileged in the decision to seek treatment that they believe will be best for them - Client-Directed, Outcome Informed Practice" says Mr Taylor.

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