Phone therapy helpful, study says

Wed., Aug. 25, 2004

Carla K. Johnson Staff writer

Telephone psychotherapy can help people with depression feel better, according to a new study conducted in Washington state.

The technique could be useful in rural areas where distance and stigma may keep people out of a therapist’s office, said the lead researcher, Dr. Greg Simon, a Group Health Cooperative psychiatrist based in Seattle.

In rural areas, “not only is it a 30-minute drive to the therapist, but when you park in front of the office everyone knows it’s your car because it’s a small town,” Simon said.

In the study, 600 patients who were starting on antidepressants were randomly assigned to one of three groups. The patients were Group Health members on the West Side.

The study appears in today’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The first group received the antidepressants and no talk therapy.

The second group received the antidepressants, plus three outreach telephone calls in which their symptoms and antidepressant use were assessed.

The third group received the antidepressants, plus eight structured talk therapy sessions by telephone.

Phone therapists used cognitive behavioral techniques that redirected patients toward rewarding activities and helped them learn to stop negative thoughts, such as “I’m a failure.” The third group also received a workbook and homework assignments.

After six months, the third group did better on a depression severity scale. The third group also reported more improvement and satisfaction with treatment than the other two groups.

The second group, which received three outreach phone calls, did better than the first group.

Simon doesn’t think phone therapy is better than face-to-face therapy, but it could reach more people. Other studies have found that 75 percent of patients drop out of conventional therapy after only one session.

Phone therapy also isn’t any cheaper than conventional therapy, he said. If it brings more people into treatment, it could actually raise health-care costs, he acknowledged.

Simon’s next step for research is to see if the phone therapy works for people who are depressed, but haven’t started taking antidepressants. Many people who make an appointment for therapy never show up, Simon said. A telephone option could work for those people.

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