In a letter to The New York Times, APA President Barry Anton, PhD, said that the newspaper minimized the "clear benefits of psychotherapy that have been found over many years of research," in the Oct. 1 article "Effectiveness of Talk Therapy Is Overstated, a Study Saysopens in new window."
The Times article was based on a study led by researchers at VU University in Amsterdam, which was published in PLOS Oneopens in new window, on Sept. 30. In the study, researchers tracked down all of the National Institutes of Health-funded research that examined psychological therapy to treat depression in adults (not adolescents) from 1972 to 2008. The researchers concluded that 13 of the 55 studies were started but never published — likely because these trials found the therapy had no benefit — and that two were never started. An updated analysis showed that when the data from these studies were included in a meta-analysis, the efficacy of psychological therapy fell by 25 percent.
But in his letter, Anton pointed out that when psychologists' treatments are compared in clinical trials, "the typical finding is that these treatments are superior to no treatment or some type of psychological placebo (usually contact with a therapist who responds empathetically but does not actively provide a treatment)."
He added that psychotherapy is "at least as effective as medication and, as your article notes, more likely to prevent relapse of depression. … Ongoing research continues to build on these findings to further improve the quality of psychotherapy. While some patients may improve more than others, the simple fact is that psychotherapy does work."
Anton's letter was published in the Times on Oct. 14.
— Kim I. Mills
