Parkinson Disease and Depression: CBT Helps

Cognitive-behavioral therapy tailored specifically to PD patients is beneficial, even for those on antidepressants.

Although medication may be effective for treating depression in patients with neurological disease (JW Psychiatry Jun 27 2011), clinicians should also consider psychotherapeutic modalities. To examine the efficacy of individual cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in treating depression in Parkinson disease (PD), researchers randomized 80 patients with PD plus major depression or dysthymia (mean baseline score on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression [HAM-D], 20.18) to clinical monitoring (CM) alone or with CBT.

All participants were on a stable medication regimen for at least 6 weeks; any patients on stabilized mental health treatment continued that regimen (54% were taking antidepressants). CBT (10 weekly sessions lasting 60–75 minutes) s…

Reviewing Author

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Parkinson Disease and Depression: CBT Helps

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Reviewing Author