SEATTLE, March 23 (UPI) -- Psychological help over the telephone -- by qualified clinicians -- is not only effective but long-lasting, U.S. researchers said Friday.
Symptoms of depression were "very much" or "much" improved, said 77 percent of the 393 patients in the study, according to Evette Ludman, a clinical psychologist and senior research associate at the Center for Health Studies, Seattle.
The effects of the six months of telepsychotherapy -- which coincided with the initiation of antidepressant medication -- was maintained for at least 18 months, Ludman reported in the April issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
While more than three-fourths of the patients who were given telephone counseling were very much or much improved, only 63 percent of patients who received usual care -- without the telephone back-up -- reported very much or much improvement in combating their depression.
"As with weight control," Ludman said, "maintaining improvement is the hardest part of treating depression." She said that researchers were encouraged to find that there was still a robust significant advantage for patients who had gotten added help over the phone -- even a year after those contacts had ended.
In the study, 195 patients were randomly assigned to antidepressant medication and usual care while 198 got medication and phone therapy.
The researchers noted that telephonic counseling might be able to add to the reach of psychotherapy -- traditionally limited to face-to-face therapy.
