When a prescription to buy Paxil is combined with behavioral counseling, patients with depression can experience significant improvements in their condition. New evidence suggests that administering counseling via the telephone may be an effective approach.
Despite the major benefits associated with counseling many patients fail to attend all of their appointments. This leads to less favorable treatment outcomes.
In the current study, researchers from Northwestern University assigned a group of 325 depression patients to undergo either standard counseling or to receive therapy over the phone.
The results showed that patients who underwent counseling remotely had roughly the same treatment outcomes as those who were seen in person. However, the remote patients were more likely to complete the recommended number of sessions.
"The effect of telephone administration on adherence appears to occur during the initial engagement period. These effects may be due to the capacity of telephone delivery to overcome barriers and patient ambivalence toward treatment," the researchers wrote in their report.
They added that telephone counseling may offer a beneficial alternative to standard depression treatment approaches.