Medications versus cognitive behavior therapy for severely depressed outpatients: mega-analysis of four randomized comparisons.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to compare the acute outcomes of antidepressant medication and cognitive behavior therapy in the severely depressed outpatient subgroups of four major randomized trials. A secondary objective was to compare the results obtained in the National Institute of Mental Health Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program, upon which treatment guidelines have been based, with those obtained in the other three studies.


METHODS
Outcomes of antidepressant medication and cognitive behavior therapy were compared within each of the four studies separately and for patients aggregated across the four studies. In addition, the outcomes in the antidepressant medication and cognitive behavior therapy conditions of the Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program were compared with those obtained in the other three studies.


RESULTS
The overall effect sizes comparing antidepressant medication to cognitive behavior therapy favored cognitive behavior therapy, but tests comparing the two modalities did not reveal a significant advantage for either modality overall.


CONCLUSIONS
Cognitive behavior therapy has fared as well as antidepressant medication with severely depressed outpatients in four major comparisons. Until findings emerge from current or future comparative trials, antidepressant medication should not be considered, on the basis of empirical evidence, to be superior to cognitive behavior therapy for the acute treatment of severely depressed outpatients.
Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104-6196, USA. derubeis@psych.upenn.edu
R J
RJ
DeRubeis
L A
LA
Gelfand
T Z
TZ
Tang
A D
AD
Simons
D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000928:Antidepressive Agents