November 17, 1999
Feeling Depressed? New UW study might assist you, others to find an effective treatment for America’s most common mental health problem
Comedians mock the Northwest’s dark and dreary skies, saying they are enough to depress anyone. But depression, the most common mental health problem in the United States – affecting about 17 million Americans – is no laughing matter. Worse yet, effective and lasting treatment for depression remains elusive.
That’s why University of Washington researchers are looking for between 200 and 300 Seattle-area residents to volunteer as subjects for a new study testing the effectiveness of state-of-the-art treatments for depression.
To be eligible, people must be between the ages 18 and 60 and have felt depressed in the past month and/or have lost interest in most of their daily activities. In addition, potential subjects cannot currently be in treatment for depression and must be willing to be randomly assigned to a treatment method, according to Sona Dimidjian, project coordinator.
The study is being funded as part of a $3.4 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health under the supervision of Dr. David Dunner, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and Robert Kohlenberg, associate professor of psychology. It is the largest single-site study of treatments for depression and was originally directed by Neil Jacobson, a UW professor of psychology who died last June.
People selected as subjects will be evaluated, then given one of several treatments for 16 weeks and up to two years of follow-up evaluation. Subjects may receive up to $330 for participation in post-treatment evaluations.
The study is designed to compare Paxil, a drug commonly used to treat depression, and two forms of psychotherapy, cognitive therapy and behavioral activation. Cognitive therapy is presently considered to be the “gold-standard” of psychotherapy treatment for depression. Behavioral activation is a new treatment that focuses on getting patients reengaged in life and the world around them. It holds promise of being more economical and easier for therapists to learn, according to Dimidjian. One of the goals of the study is to measure its effectiveness against Paxil and cognitive therapy. In an earlier study by Jacobson and other UW researchers, behavioral activation performed as well as cognitive therapy in the short-term treatment of depression and the long-term prevention of relapse.
In the new study, subjects will be randomly assigned to a treatment. A small percentage of subjects will be initially assigned to receive a placebo. At the end of eight weeks, those receiving the placebo will have the opportunity of choosing one of the other treatments.
People who would like to volunteer for the study or have questions should contact Elizabeth Shilling, recruitment coordinator at the UW psychology department’s Center for Clinical Research, at (206) 685-8500.
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For more information, contact Dimidjian (206) 685-9383 or sdimidji@u.washington.edu
