title: The impact of psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, and their combination on quality of life in depression.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Quality of life (QOL) is known to be negatively affected during the course of major depressive disorder. Various studies have documented the benefits of pharmacotherapy or psychotherapy alone on QOL in depression, with few studies examining combined treatment. This review will examine the evidence for the impact of each modality, as well as their combination, on QOL in depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using the key terms depression, depress*, major depress*, quality of life, antidepressant*, and psychotherapy, MEDLINE and PsycINFO searches were conducted to identify treatment-outcome studies that used known QOL measurements over the past twenty-six years (1984 to 2010).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significant improvements in depressive symptomatology and QOL measurements were found with pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, and their combination, with some studies showing greater improvement following combined treatment than with either intervention alone.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Substantial evidence suggests that psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, and their combination have favorable effects on QOL in depression. While some studies have shown that combined therapy is superior than either of the two forms alone in improving QOL, additional research is needed to elucidate this effect. QOL measurement is an important dimension of treatment-outcome assessment in patients with depression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, USA. waguih.ishak@cshs.org
authors.forename: Waguih William
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Ishak
authors.forename: Khanh
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kapitanski
authors.forename: Kara
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bagot
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fathy
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Swanson
authors.forename: Jennice
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vilhauer
authors.forename: Konstantin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Balayan
authors.forename: Nestor Ian
authors.initials: NI
authors.lastname: Bolotaulo
authors.forename: Mark Hyman
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Rapaport
mesh_terms: D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods; D011788:Quality of Life
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents