“A Two-Year Naturalistic Follow-Up of Depressed Patients Treated With Cognitive Therapy, Pharmacotherapy and a Combination of Both”, I. M. Blackburn, K. M. Eunson, S. Bishop1986 (depression)⁠:

Depressed patients who had responded to either cognitive therapy, pharmacotherapy or the 2 treatments combined, were followed up retrospectively over a period of 2 years.

There were statistically-significantly more relapses at 6 months in the pharmacotherapy group compared to the combined treatment group and the 2 cognitive therapy groups together. The number of individuals who relapsed at some point over the 2 years was statistically-significantly higher in the pharmacotherapy group than in either of the cognitive therapy groups. When hospital patients were considered separately, statistically-significantly more patients in the pharmacotherapy group relapsed over the 2 years compared to the 2 cognitive therapy groups combined.

Methodological problems of naturalistic follow-up studies are discussed and the prophylactic potential of cognitive therapy is discussed relative to continuation drug treatment.

[Keywords: cognitive therapy, depression, naturalistic follow-up, pharmacotherapy]