Robbed
08-13-2008, 10:55 PM
I read a story in the Sacramento Bee the other day that was not the least bit surprising. It talked about how these days, the number of people with emotional problems who receive actual 'talk therapy' (which could be either CBT OR traditional psychoanalysis) is on the decline in favor of the use of medications. You just have to love the reasons they gave for this. One was quite obvious: insurance companies would rather pay for prescription drugs and short, infrequent drug management office visits than expensive weekly therapy sessions. But the other reason is what REALLY raised an eyebrow: newer generation drugs that are more effective AND have fewer side effects. Newer generation meds? This is a new one to me. The last I heard, doctors were still prescribing the same SSRIs and SNRIs that they have been prescribing for the last 20 years (not exactly what I call new!). Newer drugs like Lexapro (approved in 2002) are basically 'me too' SSRIs that are not too different from those that came before in terms of effectiveness or side effects. If there really IS something new and different out there, I never heard of it. But I guess that if people are told something is new and different, they will likely believe it.