Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) has been shown to be effective in treating depression in clinical trials but there is less evidence about its effectiveness in the 'real world.' Researchers from the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz studied 229 people referred to an outpatients' clinic with depression between 2001 and 2008, of whom 174 completed the full course of treatment. Their levels of depression were measured over the course of their therapy and these showed a "significant alleviation of depressive symptoms." 61% of all the patients achieved a 50% improvement of their symptoms and whether they were taking antidepressants or not had little impact on their improvement. The results were encouraging but not quite as good as those found in clinical trials.
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