Conditions: Depression
Keywords: Cognitive therapy Antidepressants Psychotherapy
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 523
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This study determined the effectiveness of continuation phase cognitive therapy versus antidepressant medication in preventing relapse of depression in people with recurrent depression.

Detailed description:
Cognitive therapy (CT) is a short-term talking therapy that focuses on changing negative thinking patterns and helping patients develop coping skills to deal with their experiences. Evidence suggests that CT is effective in treating a number of psychiatric conditions, including anxiety and anger. This study will determine the effectiveness of cognitive therapy versus antidepressant medication or placebo in preventing relapse of depression in people with recurrent depression.

This study lasted approximately 36 months and comprised three phases. For the first 12 weeks, all participants received between 16 and 20 CT sessions. Participants were then randomly assigned to receive additional CT sessions, antidepressants, or placebo for an additional 8 months. Upon completing treatment, participants entered follow-up study visits once every 4 months for the next 24 months. Clinician-rated scales and questionnaires were used to assess depressive symptoms of participants at study start and at the end of each study phase.

Arms:
arm 1: Participants received acute phase and continuation phase cognitive therapy arm 2: Participants received acute phase cognitive therapy and continuation phase pill placebo arm 3: Participants received acute phase cognitive therapy and continuation phase fluoxetine

Interventions: intervention 1: Continuation phase cognitive therapy intervention 2: Continuation phase fluoxetine intervention 3: Continuation phase pill placebo intervention 4: Acute phase cognitive therapy
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Continuation phase cognitive therapy included 10 sessions over 8 months. intervention 2: The dosage of fluoxetine was increased to 40 mg over 8 months. intervention 3: The dosage of pill placebo was increased to 40 mg over 8 months. intervention 4: For the first 12 weeks, all participants received between 16 and 20 cognitive therapy sessions.

Protocol document: