Both a formal National Institutes of Mental Health study¹, and an informal Consumer Reports study², have found that talk therapy helps people struggling with depression and anxiety. Even for people who do not have full-on depression or anxiety disorders, the symptoms of depression and anxiety often lie at the heart of life dissatisfaction and unhappiness.

In the Consumer Reports study published in the October, 2004 edition of the magazine, people who attended at least 13 sessions of therapy that consisted mostly of "talk therapy" reported having better outcomes than those whose participated in mostly "medication therapy."

For those who need it, the most effective therapy, according to both studies, is a combination of talk therapy and medication, for those who need it.

The most effective forms of talk therapy, according to the research, are Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Interpersonal Therapy. I practice a combination of these two models. For more information about these models, please go to the Therapy Basics Page. When necessary and if you choose, I will work with your physician or psychiatrist to help you find a medication that will work for you as quickly, and with as few side effects, as possible.

In this day and age, with insurance restrictions and on-going social stigma about going to therapy, it can still feel overwhelming to start seeing a therapist. However, from the research quoted above, and other studies, we know that therapy helps people feel better in a relatively short period of time and is very cost-effective.