A new talking therapy for depression, potentially more effective and affordable than CBT

A new talking therapy for depression has shown encouraging early signs of being more effective and cheaper to deliver than the current best practice of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

A pilot trial from the University of Exeter has found Augmented Depression Therapy (ADepT) could be a significant advance in depression care.

ADepT has been developed to pay just as much attention to building well-being as it does to reducing depressive symptoms.

82 adults with moderate to severe depression and exhibiting features of anhedonia took part. Participants were randomly assigned to either 20 individual sessions of ADepT or CBT. Participants were assessed by researchers at the beginning of the pilot, as well as after six, 12, and 18 months.

Results suggested that ADepT was definitely not worse than, and showed potential to be better than, CBT at building wellbeing and reducing depression at the end of treatment and over longer-term follow-up. Results also suggested ADepT was cost-effective, costing the same amount to deliver as CBT but resulting in greater gains in quality of life.

Reference: Primary clinical and cost-effectiveness of augmented depression therapy versus cognitive behavioural therapy for the treatment of anhedonic depression (ADepT): a single-center, open-label, parallel-group, pilot, randomized, controlled trial” and is published in Lancet EClinical Medicine.