Comparing therapies

Comparing therapies is difficult because,,,

• You need a large number of patients each with the same psychological disorder and severity which is difficult
• Careful assessment needs to happen before and after treatments and agreement on how long improvements should last
• If is drug is being compared, a control group will be needed as up to 30% of patients respond well to that

Elkin et al (1989)

• Studied 240 patients with depression for 16 weeks
• They either had CBT, psychotherapy or anti-depressant drugs
• They found that:
  • The therapies were more effective than a placebo
  • Drugs were the most effective at…