UK Report Cognitive Behavioural Therapy a waste of money

Government wasting money on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy suggests study
Written by Lautaro Vargas
Thursday, 02 July 2009
New research from the University of Hertfordshire has concluded that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) represents is of no value to sufferers of schizophrenia and has limited effect on depression.

Developed from a mix of cognitive and behavioural therapy, CBT is designed to systematically help solve problems in people’s lives, such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or drug misuse.

Professor Keith Laws, at the University’s School of Psychology, is a lead author on a paper entitled: Cognitive behavioural therapy for major psychiatric disorder: does it really work?

This meta-analytical review of well-controlled trials, published online in the journal Psychological Medicine, reviews the use of CBT in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression.

The results of the review suggest that not only is CBT ineffective in treating schizophrenia and in preventing relapse, it is also ineffective in preventing relapses in bipolar disorder.

The review also suggests that CBT has only a weak effect in treating depression, but it has a greater effect in preventing relapses in this disorder.

The authors focused particularly on methodologically rigorous trials that compared CBT to a ‘psychological placebo’ and also investigated the impact of ‘blinding’, i.e. whether or not the people who assessed the patients knew if they were receiving active treatment or not.

Both factors are considered essential before a drug treatment is approved for use in psychiatric disorders.
go here for more
Government wasting money on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy suggests study