While choosing between psychotherapy or medication treatment, psychologists and nurses should consider a few things. Two kinds of psychotherapies are popular to treat depression such as cognitive behavioral therapy and interpersonal therapy. Some practitioners prefer medication treatments to be more helpful than psychotherapy. However, there are several evidences that show using a combination of psychotherapy and medication yields the best outcomes in terms of patient care (Dzevlan, 2019).
The evidence-based research is performed to help nurses identify the best scholarly resources to improve their patient care outcomes. The first article chosen published in the Cambridge University Press is “The efficacy of psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy and their combination on functioning and quality of life in depression: a meta-analysis” that discusses and compares the effectiveness of psychotherapy and other intervention diseases in treating depression patients (Kamenov, 2017). The researchers focus on Quality of Life (QoL) outcomes in the treatment of depressive symptoms and findings suggest that psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy yielded small to moderate effect sizes in terms of QoL. The results of the study show that the combined treatment of medicines and psychotherapy is more effective than using a single technique. A similar research is selected as the second research articles named “Cognitive Therapy vs. Medications in the Treatment of Moderate to Severe Depression” is explored that addresses the usage of anti-depressive medicines to treat moderate to severe depression patients (DeRubeis, 2005). There is little data on this topic with cognitive therapy; the researchers tested 120 patients with 16 days or medication in the clinical settings of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. The dosage given was 50mg daily. After 8 weeks, response rates in medications were 50% and in cognitive therapy were 25%. The results of the research show that both cognitive and medication therapies can be equally effective in the initial treatment of patients of moderate to severe depression symptoms. The degree of effectiveness depends on the training and experience level of nurses or therapists (Kamenov, 2016).
Other research by Hollen (2014) states that for anxiety disorders, all methods such as anit-anxiety medications, anti-depressant medicines, and psychotherapy all have been effective in the recent years. However, more researches show that psychotherapy is generally more effective compared to medicines for depression patients. This shows that only treating patients with medicines does not prove to be always beneficial. In case of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, mood patients receive treatment using mood-changing medications (Djulbegovic, 2017). Therefore, it is vital for medical healthcare professionals to stabilize and personalize their treatment preferences based on patients’ needs and histories and apply evidence-based research to answer their questions to address a particular patient issue. Similarly, another study named “Cognitive therapy vs. medications for depression: Treatment outcomes and neural mechanisms” states that studies show the effectiveness of cognitive therapy as beneficial as medications at treating depressive symptoms. The research states that psychotherapy also helps to reduce the relapse risk; while medications and cognitive therapy results in similar neural mechanisms that are distinctive to each (Marwood, 2018).
The research by Kamenov (2016) was chosen because it compressively discusses how pharmacotherapy can be as effective as psychotherapy in depression patients. The research also discusses with solid evidence how a combination of these two researches can be the best for patients. The study is it the most relevant for helping nurses make the best decisions based on evidence. The study observed and concluded that combined treatment can be superior for improving function and QoL outcomes. Moreover, the study by Robert and Hollen (2014) also compares the efficacy of anti-depressant medication in depressive patients and apply interventions such as desipramine hydrochloride in addition to cognitive therapy. This research provides comprehensive results to show that cognitive therapy is as effective as medication therapy for treating moderate to severe depression. However, this research states that nurses’ level of skill can also determine the rate of their success using these strategies. This research also proves to be the most authentic and relevant resource because it offers a systematic review of primary data and uses statistical tools to arrive at conclusions. Another relevant research b
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