Psychological treatment is more effective for mental health problems, according to a new study.
Posted Nov 19, 2013 1:35 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A lot of people being treated for mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder wish they could ditch their medication for alternate treatments.
A new study by the Canadian Psychological Association shows, in many cases, psychological treatments are as good as or better than pharmaceutical treatments alone.
Dr. John Hunsley, from the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa and lead author of the study, said the findings don’t mean people should just stop taking their pills.
“With some of these medications there can be rebound effect, very negative effects and a rebound of symptoms if you come off them too quickly,” said Hunsley.
While the psychological treatments are recommended in the study, Hunsley notes they are nothing like the years of therapy you see in movies.
“With these kinds of psychological treatments people are learning new skills, they’re learning ways to get out of bad habits, in terms of how they think, how they behave, how they deal with emotion.”
Hunsley said many times it can be a handful of one hour sessions and stresses that both medication and psychological therapy have seen successes and in many cases would work best together.
