In the past decade, psychotherapy has maintained a steady popularity despite a recent shift towards drug treatments. A study conducted from 1987 to 1997, released in this month's American Journal of Psychiatry, finds that despite the increased use of drugs such as antidepressants, there is still a need for the couch when it comes to achieving good mental health.
"What people have found out is that over time the combination of the two is what works,” says Anne Alonso, Ph.D., a clinical professor of psychology at Harvard Medial School. “Drugs alone stop working over the long haul."
Therapy assists drug treatments, for example, by greatly increasing compliance, while drugs help patients utilize more therapy.
"Over time people have come to the realization that both biology and psychology need to be dealt with simultaneously," Alonso says. "I think this integrative trend is going to continue."
