[lbo-talk] The Economics of Depression (was: Merry Christmas!)

Miles Jackson cqmv at pdx.edu
Sat Dec 27 14:29:27 PST 2003


On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 DoreneFC at aol.com wrote:


> A couple comments, sadly without appropriate citiations, from some experience
> being a bean counter at an HMO:
>
> --Pills are cheaper than live therapy. That alone carries a great deal
> of weight but pills when they work also produce results that are more
> "measureable" than the results of talk therapy.

This is simply incorrect: careful, experimental trials using reliable measures of depressive symptoms have demonstrated that cog-behavioral therapy is as effective or more effective than SSRIs. The effects of "talk therapy" are easily measured!

Miles



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