The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point
  • About this web log

    This blog ran from 2006 to 2016 and was intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

  • About the author

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

  • Common sense considerations

    The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

  • Recent Posts

  • Recent Comments

    Using the telephone to complement psychotherapy for depression

    An study in the April issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology concludes that when people receive brief telephone-based psychotherapy soon after starting antidepressant medication, strong positive effects may continue 18 months after their first session.

    • 400 patients received psychotherapy plus an antidepressant.
    • At 18 months, 77% of those who got phone-based therapy reported their depression was “much” or “very much” improved.
    • This compares to 63% of those receiving regular care.
    • Those getting phone-based therapy were slightly better at taking their antidepressant medication.
    • The effects were stronger for patients with moderate to severe depression than for those with mild depression.

    An article in Medical News Today quotes researcher Dr. Evette Ludman. “The patients participated more fully in psychotherapy and completed more sessions than do most depressed people in the community.”

    Nationally, about half of insured patients receiving depression treatment make any psychotherapy visit, and less than a third make 4 or more visits. By contrast, in this study, 3 in 4 patients completed at least 6 phone therapy sessions. This is striking, she added, because the study did not include people who were already in counseling or planning to be.

    These results support an earlier study where the Internet plus short weekly telephone calls were used to help treat panic disorder.

    3/29/07 16:25 JR

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