Medication

The Guardian
Guidelines from the National Institute of Clinical Excellence which recommend CBT, and medical evidence, show CBT to be just as effective as drugs, if not more so.



Depression

Daily Telegraph
The Royal College of Psychiatrists reports CBT as the most effective treatment for moderate to severe depression and as effective as anti-depressants for many people of all ages.  CBT can be done individually, in groups and as a family therapy. All can have a profound effect on long-term recovery. A recent study at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, supported by the Mental Health Foundation, found that CBT offered a "clear advantage over other treatments for depressed adolescents.


The Guardian
The point about this report (on Depression), spelled out in the clearest terms, is that the right effective treatment with Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) works. It cures at least half of all depressives, given just 16 one-hour sessions of rigorously systematic treatment.

Half of those with severe agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorders and other anxieties are cured within the 16 week, and never need treatment again. Some may need more sessions in later years, but others with acute anxiety disorders are completely cured. A prominent specialist, who is one of the leaders of this campaign, finds that people with these anxieties have been living crippled lives for an average of 20 years before he sees them, and he cures half of them with CBT.



Cost

The Economist magazine
The really surprising advantage of CBT is that it seems to keep working even after therapy sessions are over. While Cognitive Therapy is more expensive than drug treatment to start with (since it involves extended one-to-one sessions), it is cheaper in the long run because prescriptions do not have to be refilled indefinitely.


The Guardian
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) conducted a review of the evidence and drew up guidelines that say everyone should be offered CBT because it works so well. It is highly cost-effective.



Chronic fatigue syndrome

The Psychologist News
CBT 'most effective' for treating CFS When it comes to the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome, the limited evidence available suggests cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is more effective than treatment as usual (i.e. seeing a doctor and receiving advice and reassurance) and other psychological therapies, including relaxation and counselling. That's according to a new systematic review by the highly regarded Cochrane Collaboration. Fifteen studies involving over a thousand patients demonstrated the superior benefits CBT can bring, although the researchers, led by Jonathan Price, at the University of Oxford, said more research comparing treatment approaches was needed, especially at follow-up.


Daily Telegraph
CBT has been shown in five trials to be an effective treatment for ME. In some studies, CBT has been shown to restore abnormal brain function to normal. Researchers in Holland are investigating whether it can reverse the reduction in the size of grey matter in the brain associated with ME.



Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

BBC
NICE guidelines recommend that people with OCD, particularly those under 18, should be offered talking therapies, namely CBT first. If an adult's OCD is more severe, medication with SSRI antidepressants might also be helpful and should be offered instead of or in combination with CBT.



Sexual Issues

International Journal of impotence Research
A study in the International Journal of Impotence Research reported that men with erectile dysfunction (ED) benefited from Internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). An important aspect of this approach was that it removed much of the anxiety and embarrassment associated with face-to-face discussions of sexual problems. The CBT protocol included the men and their partners, and focused on psychological and relationship factors related to ED.

Designed as a 10-week program, couples participated in communication exercises, sensate focus activities, and email contact with therapists when needed. Improvements in ED were significantly greater among men who completed the program compared to those who received no treatment, and these findings were consistent with face-to-face psychological treatments. Additionally, the positive treatment effects remained stable during the 3-month follow-up period.



Fertility

BBC
A study at the Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, found CBT helpful in restoring fertility. Half the patients were given CBT, tailored to their own situations for 20 weeks. Over the course of the study, six of the eight women given CBT regained full fertility, with one showing some signs of restored ovarian function. Two later became pregnant within two months. In the eight women who received no treatment, one recovered her fertility while another showed signs of ovarian function.

Professor Sarah Berga, who led the study at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, said psychotherapy could be a viable alternative to expensive and often complex fertility treatment. She said that people often tried to deal with stress by exercising, but experiments showed that this only raised stress levels further. likewise, lounging around at home was not enough to reduce anxiety.




PTSD (Post Truamatic Stress Dissorder)

The Guardian
Royal Navy psychiatrist, Lieutenant Commander Neil Greenberg, says: "Troops receive very realistic training and a full briefing during deployment. Each field hospital has a mobile mental health team with a psychiatrist and around four psychiatric nurses, all trained in cognitive behavioural therapy [CBT]. It is now accepted that CBT and anti-depressant medication is the way to treat PTSD."



Anti-depressants 

Medical News Today
Cognitive therapy to treat moderate to severe depression works just as well as antidepressants, according to an authoritative report appearing today in the Archives of General Psychiatry. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University, challenges the American Psychiatric Association's guidelines that antidepressant medications are the only effective treatment for moderately to severely depressed patients.

Either form of treatment worked significantly better than a placebo, but the researchers demonstrated that cognitive therapy was more effective than medication at preventing relapses after the end of treatment.

"We believe that cognitive therapy might have more lasting effects because it equips patients with the tools they need to learn how to manage their problems and emotions," said Robert DeRubeis, professor and chair of Penn's Department of Psychology. "Pharmaceuticals, while effective, offer no long term cure for the symptoms of depression. For many people, cognitive therapy might prove to be the preferred form of treatment."



Insomnia

The Times
So what should we offer to the millions of people who regularly struggle with insomnia? The answer may lie in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). According to researchers from the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University, five hours of CBT can “cure” most people's insomnia.

The therapy is based on a series of psychological interventions that encourage a return to normal sleeping patterns, and are designed to break the vicious cycle of worry-induced insomnia. The programme starts with basic instructions on what promotes sleep (such as avoiding daytime napping, and always retiring and waking at the same time every day) and what can prevent it (eg, too much caffeine, and eating or exercising close to bedtime).

Loughborough University
Professor Morgan believes that the effective treatment of insomnia must include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), a psychological treatment that involves educating sufferers on how to change their behaviour and control their thoughts in order to promote better sleeping patterns. However CBT for the treatment of insomnia remains unavailable for most NHS patients.



How Cognitive Therapy Works

Cognitive Therapy Today  
Cognitive Therapy is well known for being effective for depression (it’s twice as effective as medication in preventing relapse) and it’s also been shown to work for many other disorders — but why? How does it work?
 
A major clue to how Cognitive Therapy affects the brain came out in this study two years ago — researchers were interested in seeing how Cognitive Behaviour Therapy affected the brains of depressed people as compared to medication. They hypothesized that since both CBT and medication were effective for depression, both treatments would affect the same part of the brain. Using brain imaging technology, they scanned participants’ brains before and after the course of treatment.
 
And they were in for a surprise. Researchers found that antidepressants affected one part of the brain among depressed patients, and CBT treatment affected another part altogether. Antidepressants dampened activity in the limbic system — the emotional centre of the brain. Conversely, CBT calmed activity in the cortex — the brain’s seat of reason.
 
In other words, antidepressants reduced emotions, whereas CBT helped patients process their emotions in a healthier manner.
 
Which explains why those on antidepressants have a much higher likelihood of relapse if they go off of their meds — negative emotions can flood back in. But with CBT, patients gain the skills to respond to their emotions more effectively — for long-term benefits. 
 
Entry from the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Centre and Department of Psychiatry, Centre for Addiction and the Mental Health University of Toronto, Canada.

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