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Statistics on the website of the UK counselling directory reveal that 300 in every 1000 people in Britain will experience mental health problems each year and although it is not absolutely certain exactly how many people receive some form of counselling every year, in the last 10 years the number of qualified counsellors has tripled. With figures estimated at 450 million for how many people in the world are affected by mental health it is of little surprise that demand for therapists is on the rise. However, when it comes to treatment, are talking therapies such as psychotherapy as effective at treating depression and anxiety as much as anti-depressants, what other factors can help influence an effective treatment and finally is there still a stigma surrounding mental health issues? In Switzerland, Doctor Jürgen Barth from the University of Bern led a research team which reviewed 198 published studies and more than 15,000 patients to find out. The findings were published in the journal PLOS Medicine and covered seven non drug therapies including CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), psychotherapy and supported counselling which were compared to each other along with the taking of anti-depressants and a control. Dr Barth said 'Overall, we found that different psychotherapeutic interventions for depression have moderate-to-large effects.' The research concluded that all of the non-drug therapies worked better at reducing depression than the anti-depressants Interestingly, receiving effective treatment for depression and anxiety doesn’t just seem to a case of receiving therapy over drugs. Psychologist Bruce Wampold studied hundreds of cases where people had received therapy and analysed all of the outcomes to see whether people improved, got worse or stayed the same. His findings were that it didn’t seem to matter what type of psychotherapy a person had, the real winning factor for improvement was down to the relationship between the therapist and client and how much confidence the client had in the therapist. Wampold also believes there are other factors that contribute to the improvement of a client in therapy. For example, external events such as getting a good deal of support from family or friends and fortuitous happenings such as an increase in salary of attaining a job that you really want can massively contribute to a client’s improvement by up to 40%. Fortunately, the future also looks brighter for people who suffer from mental health problems as nowadays there is less taboo surrounding the condition. This has been aided by more and more celebrities such as Catherine Zeta Jones and even more famously Stephen Fry being open with their struggles with their mental health and urging others to seek help. Closer to home for myself, I have no doubt that since the brave revelations in June 2013 from Caroline Penn, the chairman of the Brighton and Hove Labour Party, the number of people seeking psychotherapy in Brighton will have increased. Having well known and respected figures in our communities publicly talk about their own struggles can never cease to empower people. With the press seemingly on side, the community of therapists growing and evidence mounting that anti-depressants are not always the best course of treatment, there is hope for a healthier and well supported British population in years to come.
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psychotherapy, mental health, depression, anxiety,
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