Is Medication More Effective Than Talk Therapy or Vice Versa?

Mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression have become increasingly prevalent within society. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, "Nearly one-half of those diagnosed with depression are diagnosed with an anxiety disorder." The controversy between talk therapy and antidepressants as effective treatments are still being debated to this day, and one study finds that the effectiveness of talk therapy may be overstated. According to the NPR article, "Studies May Overstate the Benefits of Talk Therapy For Depression" by John Hamilton, "researchers found that the apparent effectiveness was inflated by publication bias" (Hamilton, 2015). Essentially, studies that showed positive effects of a treatment were more likely to be published than those with a negative outcome. Many studies have bashed on medication as treatment but it was only these biased studies that were published versus other experiments with contradicting findings that were not. Similar research have shown the opposite results, where medication may be overstated to help people with these disorders.

Dr. Stewart Shankman presented research findings at Loyola University Chicago on the study, "A Psychological Investigation of Threat and Reward Sensitivity in Individuals with Panic Disorder and/or Major Depressive Disorder." The study differentiated between panic disorder and major depressive disorder as well as both of them together. He discussed how anxiety disorders encompass a heightened sensitivity to predicted/unpredicted threats, whereas depressive disorders portray a reduced sensitivity to reward. A study was conducted to measure sensitivity to threat based on startle responses, and four different groups of people aged between 18 and 35 participated in a virtual slot-task machine. The researchers measured the frontal EEG asymmetry for people diagnosed with panic disorder, depression, co-morbidity (both panic disorder and depression) as well as control groups. The panic disorder group stood out in the sense that it portrayed a heightened sensitivity to both predicted and adverse stimuli, whereas major depressive disorder was associated with EEG asymmetry while participants anticipated winning money from the slot machine. The study found, however, that the comorbidity condition did not show amplified characteristics of both the panic and depression disorders. It concluded that the panic disorder and depression comorbidity condition demonstrates greater levels of distress and negative temperament in the afflicted individuals.

The results from this study suggest that treating individuals with both panic disorders and depression should not be limited to anxiety and depression treatments. However, the findings from Hamilton's article brings to light the issue of biased research and how perhaps talk therapy versus medication have their own benefits. Hamilton's article also discussed that regardless of the type of treatment patients receive, the mere fact of beginning a treatment creates a placebo effect that has shown to decrease symptoms of their disorders. Recent research has indicated that both medication and talk therapy seem to be most effective for people struggling with anxiety and depression, but there is ample room for discovery on guaranteed helpful treatments. The most important take-home message is that individuals suffering should take advantage of both forms of treatment, especially because many people have a variety of causes and factors that contribute to their disorder, and therefore may require a complex form of treatment.

Sources:
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/09/30/444789771/studies-may-overstate-the-benefits-of-talk-therapy-for-depression

http://www.adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics

Citation:
Shankman, S.A., Nelson, B.D., Sarapas, C., Robison-Andrew, E.J., Campbell, M.L., Altman, S.E., ...& Gorks, S.M.(2013). A psychophysiological investigation of threat and reward sensitivity in individuals with panic disorder and/or major depressive disorder. Journal of abnormal psychology, 122(2),3.
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