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Should counseling always be part of treatment for depression?

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Host: Should counseling always be part of treatment for depression?

Dr. Kim Penberthy: That is a really good question and the evidence is mixed. There are some practitioners who think that for some depressions medication alone is enough to have an effect and the research does support that. However, there are studies that show that really the combination of the two is more effective. The psychotherapies are very effective by themselves. So the nice thing is that you have options. You can do a combination of therapy and medication and we know that that is usually more effective or you can do therapy alone or medication alone and they are usually about half as effective as the combination.

Expert: Dr. Kim Penberthy

Dr. Penberthy attended Wake Forest University and obtained a bachelor’s degree in psychology and biology. She obtained a master’s degree in experimental psychology from Wake Forest University in 1992. Dr. Penberthy collaborated in research conducted at the UNC-Chapel Hill Center for Alcohol Studies, in the Medical School, and then at the Cancer Research Center at Duke University. She then completed her More »