CONCURRENT PSYCHOTHERAPY AND PHARMACOTHERAPY IN THE TREATMENT OF DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY IN CANCER-PATIENTS

Over the past 30 years, numerous studies have compared the relative ef fectiveness of psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, and concurrent therapeu tic approaches in treatment of common psychiatric disorders, such as d epression and anxiety. Generally, these studies have demonstrated that the combined approach is somewhat more effective in treating the diso rder in question, as well as in preventing relapse. A number of theori es regarding the reasons for this finding have been proposed. The appl ication of this therapeutic approach to the specific population of can cer patients has not been studied in systematic research. This paper b riefly reviews the studies comparing the efficacies of various treatme nt approaches for depression, discusses reasons for the efficacy of su ch an approach, and outlines a series of reasons why this may be the p referred model for intervening with cancer patients. (C) 1998 John Wil ey & Sons, Ltd.