Government plans to train 3600 therapists to treat depression

Created: 2008-02-26 17:31:41

Today Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity SANE, commented on the Government's plans, being announced today, to train 3,600 therapists to treat depression:

"We welcome the government's announcement of plans to train 3,600 therapists to treat depression, which coincides with the study from the Department of Psychology at the University of Hull throwing doubt on the effectiveness of four of the new-generation anti-depressant medications.

"While we applaud greater access to psychological therapies for those who are able to retrain their minds to think positively, we do not yet know whether cognitive behavioural therapy suits everyone. We also hear from people who are so ill that they do not respond to talking therapies and would feel very abandoned if they saw no hope of other forms of help. In our experience, practising GPs often believe it is a combination of treatments - medical and talking - that works best."
 

For more information please contact SANE's press office on 020 7422 5556.