The London Depression Intervention Trial - Randomised controlled trial of antidepressants v. couple therapy in the treatment and maintenance of people with depression living with a partner: clinical outcome and costs

Background Relapse of depression is associated with a criticising attitude of the patient's partner Aims To compare the relative efficacy and cost of couple therapy and antide pressant drugs for the treatment and maintenance of people with depression living with a critical partner. Method A randomised controlled trial of antidepressant drugs v, couple ther apy. The subjects were 77 people meeting criteria for depression living wit h a critical partner Results Drop-outs were 5.68% from drug treatment and 15% from couple therap y. Subjects' depression improved in both groups, but couple therapy showed a significant advantage, according to the Beck Depression Inventory, both a t the end of treatment and after a second year off treatment. Adding the co sts of the interventions to the costs of services used showed there was no appreciable difference between the two treatments. Conclusions For this group couple therapy is much more acceptable than anti depressant drugs and is art least as efficacious, if not more so, both in t he treatment and maintenance phases. It is no more expensive overall.