Tag: IAPT

Reading of the Week: Therapy = More Work + Better Income? The New Psych Medicine Study; Also, Zero Suicide & Melatonin for Kids

June 5, 2025 /

From the Editor

After completing a course of psychotherapy, he felt better and began a part-time job. The employment gave him a sense of purpose. As a physician, I could both sympathize and empathize; for many, work is a meaningful part of life, after all.

But does psychotherapy necessarily result in employment? Does therapy pay for itself with economic benefits? Otto R. F. Smith (of NLA University College) and his co-authors attempt to answer these questions in an impressive new paper in Psychological Medicine. They report on an RCT involving more than 700 Norwegian participants who were randomized to a psychotherapy program (modeled after the UK’s IAPT service) or to treatment as usual. The authors used administrative databases to analyze employment, income, and the economic benefit. “The results support the societal economic benefit of investing in IAPT-like services.” We consider the paper and its implications.

In the second selection, Dr. Calina Ouliaris (of Macquarie University) and her co-authors look at the zero suicide approach. In a Commentary for The British Journal of Psychiatry, they argue that – despite being studied and implemented in several places – it lacks evidence. “The Zero Suicide Framework is an arguably vague framework with a scant evidence base, particularly for application in healthcare settings. Despite this, the concrete goal championed… that of ‘zero suicides’, is appealing and has been widely promulgated in mental health services, ahead of evidence for the same.”

Finally, in the third selection, Dr. Chris Y. Kim (of the University of Toronto) and his co-authors weigh the use of melatonin for children and adolescents. In The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, they are cautious, in part because of the lack of consistency of over-the-counter melatonin. “Melatonin used as a hypnotic agent for the treatment of insomnia is controversial.”

DG

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Our Globe Essay: “For better mental-health care in Canada, look to Britain”

December 24, 2017 /

It may be the biggest change to mental-health-care services in five decades. Earlier this month, Quebec Minister of Health Gaétan Barrette announced that his province would publicly fund psychotherapy for people with depression and anxiety provided by psychologists, nurses and social workers. Ontario made a similar, if smaller, promise earlier this year and other provinces are considering similar initiatives. But how can we turn these big promises into big help for the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who could benefit? Two words of advice: go British.

So begins my new op ed, co-written with CAMH’s David Goldbloom, from Monday’s Globe and Mail.

The full piece can be found here:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/for-better-mental-health-care-in-canada-look-to-britain/article37358415/

Reading of the Week: Do Patients with Cancer Struggle with PTSD? Yes – the new Cancer Paper. Also, Quebec Covers Therapy

December 7, 2017 /

From the Editor

I spent a dozen years working at a community hospital. One of my richest experiences was working with cancer patients and their families. For so many patients, not surprisingly, cancer isn’t just a physical illness, but a psychiatric one, too – patients often experience depression and anxiety.

How common is PTSD in cancer patients? Surprisingly little work has been done in the area. In this week’s Reading, we look at a new study that considers PTSD and cancer. The study is particularly impressive in that patients were followed for years after diagnosis.

Big diagnosis, big treatment, big psychiatric problems?

In this Reading, we consider the paper and its findings.

And, with an eye on treatment for those with or without cancer, we consider a good news story: on Sunday, the Quebec government committed itself to cover psychotherapy for those with depression and anxiety in the public system.

DG

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Reading of the Week: “Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy the Gold Standard for Psychotherapy?” JAMA on Psychotherapy

October 12, 2017 /

From the Editor

Is CBT overrated? The authors of a new JAMA paper raise this question in a cutting Viewpoint.

In this two-part Reading of the Week series, we look at two papers, both published in JAMA. These Viewpoint pieces make interesting, provocative arguments.

Last week, we looked at conversational agents.

This week, we ask: is CBT really the gold standard for psychotherapy?

University of Giessen’s Falk Leichsenring and Medical School Berlin’s Christiane Steinert consider CBT and the research that has been done in the area. “CBT is usually considered the gold standard for the psychotherapeutic treatment of many or even most mental disorders.” But should it be? Leichsenring and Steinert argue no.

beck_aaron_t-_112798Aaron Beck: Great bowtie, but is his CBT really so great?

In this Reading, we review their paper, and consider their argument.

DG

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Reading of the Week: The Case For Publicly Funded Therapy

June 4, 2015 /

It’s 4:30 on a Friday afternoon at her Sherbrooke, Que., clinic and Marie Hayes takes a deep breath before opening the door to her final patient of the day, who has arrived without an appointment. The 32-year-old mother immediately lists her complaints: She feels dizzy. She has abdominal pain. “It is always physical and always catastrophic,” Dr. Hayes will later tell me. In the exam room, she runs through the standard checkup, pressing on the patient’s abdomen, recording her symptoms, just as she has done almost every week for months. “There’s something wrong with me,” the patient says, with a look of panic.

Dr. Hayes tries to reassure her, to no avail. In any case, the doctor has already reached her diagnosis: severe anxiety. Dr. Hayes prescribed medication during a previous visit, but the woman stopped taking it after two days because it made her nauseated and dizzy. She needs structured psychotherapy – a licensed therapist trained to bring her anxiety under control. But the wait list for public care is about a year, says Dr. Hayes, and the patient can’t afford the cost of private sessions.

Meanwhile, the woman is paying a steep personal price: At home, she says, she spends most days in bed… Dr. Hayes does her best, spending a full hour trying to calm her down, and the woman is less agitated when she leaves.

But the doctor knows she will be back next week.

So begins an article from The Globe asking a simple question: should we publicly fund psychotherapy? In this week’s Reading, “The case for publicly funded therapy,” Erin Anderssen argues yes.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-case-for-publicly-funded-therapy/article24567332/

Anderssen’s piece opened the The Globe and Mail’s excellent new series on mental health, which covers everything from the potential of technology to the search for biological markers. Continue reading