Echoing the experience of researchers involved in other types of distance therapies, such as online therapy, a new study indicates that people receiving brief telephone-based psychotherapy soon after starting on antidepressant medication experienced strongly positive effects up to 18 months after their first session.
Not enough is known about the potential dangers associated with antidepressant medications, according to the UK’s Mental Health Foundation. The group has responded to the controversy about the GlaxoSmithKline Seroxat case covered in an expose by the Panorama programme.
With the clocks going back an hour on Sunday 29 October, the Mental Health Foundation is encouraging people to eat healthily and exercise regularly to ward off the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Every year, 1 in 50 people in the UK suffers from SAD, although many do not realise it.
From the 1st November to 3rd January, visitors to the Mental Health Foundation’s website will be able to get free access to Depression Relief — an online self-help program that uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy techniques.
Interesting developments in mental health news last week include the first skin patch for treating Alzheimer’s disease, an FDA public health warning about serotonin syndrome from combining certain anti-depressants with certain headache medications, and word of apparently serious conflicts of interest at two major medical journals publishing studies about vagus nerve stimulation and about the use of antidepressants during pregnancy.
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