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Cognitive therapy versus medication for depression: treatment outcomes and neural mechanisms

Abstract

Depression is one of the most prevalent and debilitating of the psychiatric disorders. Studies have shown that cognitive therapy is as efficacious as antidepressant medication at treating depression, and it seems to reduce the risk of relapse even after its discontinuation. Cognitive therapy and antidepressant medication probably engage some similar neural mechanisms, as well as mechanisms that are distinctive to each. A precise specification of these mechanisms might one day be used to guide treatment selection and improve outcomes.

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Figure 1: Cognitive therapy and antidepressant medication have comparable short-term effects.
Figure 2: Less relapse after cognitive therapy compared with antidepressant medication.
Figure 3: Changes in blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal in response to cognitive and emotional tasks associated with cognitive therapy.
Figure 4: Hypothetical time course of the changes to amygdala and prefrontal function that are associated with antidepressant medication and cognitive therapy.

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Acknowledgements

Supported by grants MH50129 and MH60998 (R.J.DR.), MH55875, MH060713 and MH01697 (S.D.H.) and MH074807 and MH082998 (G.J.S.) from the National Institute of Mental Health.

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DeRubeis, R., Siegle, G. & Hollon, S. Cognitive therapy versus medication for depression: treatment outcomes and neural mechanisms. Nat Rev Neurosci 9, 788–796 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2345

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