Americans Want to Medicate Their Blues Away

A survey released this week by Consumer Reports shows that Americans, by an overwhelming margin, prefer anti-depressant medications to therapy to treat depression.  Nearly eighty percent of Americans who said they had been diagnosed with depression or anxiety were on anti-depressants for their condition.  Prozac and medications related to it are still the most commonly used drugs.

The survey of over 1500 people also revealed that those patients who did undertake talking therapy improved as much as those on medications, even with as few as seven sessions of therapy.  Not surprisingly, people who combined talk therapy with drugs improved the most.

Consumer Reports also asked people about the side effects of medications.  Those taking Prozac or medications related to it (a group called SSRIs) reported fewer side effects than those taking the newer, more expensive drugs like Effexor and Cymbalta (in the group called SNRIs).  Most people on medications had to try two or three different drugs before they found the one that worked.

The survey, which will be reported as part of Consumer Reports’ larger mental health survey in the July 2010 issue, relies entirely on the reports and perceptions of patients.  Unlike a clinical trial, a survey can not determine whether an individual who reports feeling better after therapy would or would not have done better with medication, or vice versa.

The survey, with a statistically significant number of respondents, does offer an important snapshot of mental health care for depression in the United States today.  In the decades since the introduction of Prozac, antidepressants have become by far the most popular treatment for depression, eclipsing talk therapy despite concerns about side effects.  Considering that depression has been estimated by the Center for Disease Control to effect over 15% of the U.S. population, these are important trends.

Deciding how to treat depression is, of course, still a discussion for a patient and a doctor to have individually.  Before turning down therapy, though, you might want to know that the combination of therapy and medication has given people the most satisfaction with their treatment.