Depression Talk

One of the ways that you can help manage your depression is through various kinds of talk therapy, such as psychotherapy or cognitive-behavioral therapy. Under many health insurance policies or government-funded mental health policies, you have to talk to psychiatrist in order to be allowed to get medication. The classic image we have of talk therapy is lying on a couch for fifty minutes babbling away while your doctor takes a nap.

But a study done by John Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD shows that long talk therapy sessions may be a quaint idea from the past. Because of insurance companies and government programs, ten to fifteen minute prescription consultations are now the norm. You basically talk about how the drugs are doing and if there is a topic of express concern and then out you go.

Your Fifiteen Minutes Are Up

Some people with clinical depression can benefit from short sessions. I happen to be one of them. For two years, I was on a Pennsylvania state funded assistance program before I could get finacially back on my feet. I had one fifty minute initial session and then the rest were ten minute prescription sessions. I loved them, and not just because they were short.

Having only ten minutes to focus on the past month help me sort out the real problems that needed my psychiatrist’s attention. I wasn’t tempted to ramble on and on about my problems, working myself into a frazzle. I now do not go to a psychiatrist, but get my prescriptions from my regular doctor.

But my experiences are not everyone’s. There are definitely people who need a far longer session than I apparently did.

Better Marketing

There are still psychiatrists who will do longer sessions, but you are going to have to look harder for them. Even the American Psychiatric Association has a committee dedicated to making psychiatrists more interested in psychotherapy than talk therapy.

I might not have a medical degree, but it doesn’t seem to be a good sign that psychiatrists need to be convinced of the benefits of psychotherapy.

With higher bills everywhere, the pressure is on psychiatrists to do a high turn around. This means they have to get through as many patients they can in a day. Also, Big Pharma always shows up at their offices pushing the latest drugs. It can seem easier all around to just try the drugs first, then see if psychotherapy is needed. Perhaps psychotherapy needs to hire an advertising department.