The more I research therapies used to treat anxiety and depression the more cynical I get. I recently was told about an excellent article by a UK Art Therapist which looked at the official guidelines for using CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) to treat anxiety and depression.
In the UK, a public body called the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) gives out guidelines for the use of prescription medication, surgical procedures and other non-medical treatments such as therapy. For some time the overwhelming opinion of NICE has reportedly been that CBT is the treatment of choice for anxiety and depression (with drug therapies also playing a major role).
The essayist, Malcolm Learmonth, describes how NICE guidelines come in two parts: the full report which hardly anyone reads, and an abridged version. It seems that the two are actually quite different, with the abridged version making a much better case for CBT as a valid treatment than the evidence in the full version would suggest is plausible.
It is worth following the link above to read the article.
Why then would NICE be “bigging up” this therapy if it is not in fact much good? Well, let’s not say it’s useless. For sure it does help some people. The problem is that it seems not to be the panacea that it has been allowed to be seen us. There may well be a time and a place for it, but NICE seem to want to say that it is really the only therapy worth using for anxiety and depression. This is not the case and other therapies are starting to become more popular as professionals and patients see shortcomings and disappointment from CBT. This causes problems in itself. All over the place alternative therapies, often expensive ones, pop up and promise the world. Many hours and pounds are wasted on them and the charlatan founders get rich. That is why we need NICE.
But we need NICE to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff, not just flog one therapy. It may well be that CBT is cost-effective, but patients and providers need to know what is clinically effective.
