What is it about?
The Veteran Affairs healthcare system offers three therapies proven to be effective for treating depression. These therapies are called cognitive behavioral therapy for depression, acceptance and commitment therapy for depression, and interpersonal psychotherapy. We evaluated health records of 635,653 Veterans with depression to determine how commonly these therapies were being used. We found that only 2.8% of these Veterans received one of these therapies, compared to 77.4% who were receiving a depression medication. Veterans who were male, older, had certain co-occurring mental health conditions, and were already receiving depression medication were less likely to receive one of these depression therapies.
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Why is it important?
Depression is common among Veterans and is a significant risk factor for suicide. As a result, the Veteran Affairs healthcare system has invested in training therapists to provide Veterans with effective depression therapies. Our study is the first to evaluate whether these therapies are being routinely used as well as the characteristics of Veterans who receive them. Our findings highlight that despite evidence supporting their effectiveness, these therapies are underutilized, especially for certain Veterans. Our research provides a foundation for future research to understand what factors may affect delivery of these therapies.
Perspectives
“I wanted to lead this study because there is a mismatch between how common depression is and how understudied the implementation of its psychotherapies is. This study gives us a peak into how much these therapies are used, and most importantly, what is contributing to use. It is a foundation that will allow us to further study how to get these effective treatments with patients with depression.”
Princess Ackland
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Was training enough? Examining the implementation of evidence-based psychotherapies for depression in Veterans Health Administration., Psychological Services, November 2024, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/ser0000910.
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