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Elderly Need Medication After Depression

Posted on: Friday, 17 March 2006, 03:04 CST

A Pittsburgh study finds that after elderly patients are treated for depression continued medication is more effective than therapy at preventing relapse.

The study, which was published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, builds on earlier research that found the depressed elderly need a combination of psychotherapy and antidepressants.

What this study shows is how well we can do when people get the state-of-the-art treatment, from some of the best people in the field, but it's very rarely done this way, Dr. Gary Kennedy, chief of geriatric psychiatry at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York, told the New York Times.

Doctors said that in many cases retirees suffering from depression are simply given a prescription and sent on their way.

In the University of Pittsburgh study, led by Dr. Charles Reynolds, 195 people 70 or older were treated with weekly therapy and medication. Within 16 weeks, 116 had recovered from depression.

Half were treated with medication and half with psychotherapy. Within two years, 37 percent of those getting medication had experienced a relapse, while 68 percent of the psychotherapy group relapsed.

Source: United Press International

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