CBT Vs Counselling for Depression

Posted by Juanita Merriman

4th February 2014

CBT is an established intervention which NICE guidelines recommend for mild, moderate and severe depression. Counselling, on the other hand, is only advised when other forms of treatment have been declined and even then, professionals are urged to discuss the uncertainty of its effectiveness, with the client. However, a study by King and his colleagues (2013) suggests that this preference for CBT over non-directive counselling may not be as justified as is commonly thought.

King et al (2013) found that after a course of 12 week therapy, 58 depressed patients had almost identical outcomes on the Beck Depression Inventory, regardless of whether they participated in the CBT or counselling therapy. As a result of their findings, the authors recommend that the national clinical guidelines need to “take our findings into consideration in recommending effective alternatives to CBT”.

For the full article written by Mick Cooper posted on the mentalelf.net please follow this link

Reference:

M. King, L. Marston and P. Bower Comparison of non-directive counselling and cognitive behaviour therapy for patients presenting in general practice with an ICD-10 depressive episode: a randomized control trial. Psychological Medicine, Available on CJO 2013 doi:10.1017/S0033291713002377CBT