14 DAY TRIAL // A paper published in the latest issue of the Journals of Gerontology by researchers from the US Department of Veterans Affairs showcases the advantages of cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression (CBT-D) in treating older adults.
Statistics show that older adults are a lot less likely to seek specialized help for their depression than younger adults. This is the reason why the new study focused on a large and diverse national sample of veterans of all ages.
Study leader Bradley Karlin, PhD, determined that CBT-D may indeed be a very effective alternative to conventional depression treatments, especially in older individuals. This approach usually takes between 12 and 16 individual psychotherapy sessions to take effect.
In the new study, the research group found that older adults who underwent CBT-D therapy exhibited an overall decrease in depression symptom severity of around 40 percent. This positive effect was recorded across all age groups in the research, PsychCentral reports.