Uncritical positive regard? Issues in the efficacy and safety of psychotherapy

The recent review of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) by the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) and the Food and Drug Administration was occasioned by media concerns about the safety of this class of antidepressant. In much of the prior and subsequent reporting of this issue, two assumptions have consistently been aired. The first is that psychotherapy is equally effective as drugs and the second is that since psychotherapy is not a drug, it is necessarily safer than drug treatments. From these two assumptions emerges a common presumption that psychotherapy should be the preferred approach for many if not most cases of depressive and anxiety disorders. But is this true? And if not, what implications does it have for the management of the new therapists that will soon be employed following the UK government’s award of £150 m for psychotherapy services in depression and anxiety? (http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/pressparliament/pressreleases2006/ pr955.aspx)