Trial reportBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2001
Antidepressant drugs and generic counselling for treatment of major depression in primary care: randomised trial with patient preference arms.
Trial report in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2001. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 72 papers, 16 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
72 citing papers in PubMed, 16 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 269 citations in OpenAlex.
- Addressing depression in older adults with Alzheimer's through cognitive behavioral therapy: systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2023Pooled it
- Interventions to Increase Depression Treatment Initiation in Primary Care Patients: a Systematic Review.Journal of general internal medicine · 2018Pooled it
- Couple therapy for depression.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Outcomes for patients with the same disease treated inside and outside of randomized trials: a systematic review and meta-analysis.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2014Pooled it
- Patient preference for psychological vs pharmacologic treatment of psychiatric disorders: a meta-analytic review.The Journal of clinical psychiatry · 2013Pooled it
- Counselling for mental health and psychosocial problems in primary care.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2011Pooled it
- Brief interventions for depression in primary care: a systematic review.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2009Pooled it
- On-site mental health workers delivering psychological therapy and psychosocial interventions to patients in primary care: effects on the professional practice of primary care providers.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2009Pooled it
- Outcomes of patients who participate in randomized controlled trials compared to similar patients receiving similar interventions who do not participate.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2008Pooled it
- Efficacy of couple therapy as a treatment for depression: a meta-analysis.The Psychiatric quarterly · 2008Pooled it
- Does random treatment assignment cause harm to research participants?PLoS medicine · 2006Pooled it
- Systematic review to determine whether participation in a trial influences outcome.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2005Pooled it
- Is remission of depressive symptoms in primary care a realistic goal? A meta-analysis.BMC family practice · 2004Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of data on costs from trials of counselling in primary care: using individual patient data to overcome sample size limitations in economic analyses.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2003Pooled it
- Systematic review of mental health interventions for patients with common somatic symptoms: can research evidence from secondary care be extrapolated to primary care?BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2002Pooled it
- Primary care mental health workers: models of working and evidence of effectiveness.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2002Pooled it
- Does Giving Parents Their Choice of Interventions for Child Behavior Problems Improve Child Outcomes?Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2019Trial
- Do Parent Preferences for Child Conduct Problem Interventions Impact Parenting Outcomes? A Pilot Study in Community Children's Mental Health Settings.Journal of marital and family therapy · 2018Trial
- Rationale and enrollment results for a partially randomized patient preference trial to compare continuation rates of short-acting and long-acting reversible contraception.Contraception · 2015Trial
- Factors associated with attrition from a randomized controlled trial of meaning-centered group psychotherapy for patients with advanced cancer.Psycho-oncology · 2012Trial
12 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 7 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo compare the efficacy of antidepressant drugs and generic counselling for treating mild to moderate depression in general practice. To determine whether the outcomes were similar for patients with randomly allocated treatment and those expressing a treatment preference.
designRandomised controlled trial, with patient preference arms. Follow up at 8 weeks and 12 months and abstraction of GP case notes.
setting31 general practices in Trent region.
participantsPatients aged 18-70 who met research diagnostic criteria for major depression; 103 patients were randomised and 220 patients were recruited to the preference arms.
main outcome measuresDifference in mean Beck depression inventory score; time to remission; global outcome assessed by a psychiatrist using all data sources; and research diagnostic criteria.
resultsAt 12 months there was no difference between the mean Beck scores in the randomised arms. Combining the randomised and patient preference groups, the difference in Beck scores was 0.4 (95% confidence interval -2.7 to 3.5). Patients choosing counselling did better than those randomised to it (mean difference in Beck score 4.6, 0.0 to 9.2). There was no difference in the psychiatrist's overall assessment of outcome between any of the groups. 221/265 (83%) of participants with a known outcome had a remission. Median time to remission was shorter in the group randomised to antidepressants than the other three groups (2 months v 3 months). 33/221 (15%) patients had a relapse.
conclusionsGeneric counselling seems to be as effective as antidepressant treatment for mild to moderate depressive illness, although patients receiving antidepressants may recover more quickly. General practitioners should allow patients to have their preferred treatment.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.