Older adults with dementia could benefit from psychotherapy if they suffer from anxiety or depression, because it seems, according to a study from the University College of London (United Kingdom), this type of talk therapy that is usually offered in medical centers can improve the symptoms of these two mental health problems.
It is common for people who have dementia to also suffer from symptoms of anxiety or depression, in fact, previous studies have determined that up to 38% of patients with mild dementia have these mental conditions. These problems make the disease more debilitating and make day-to-day life more difficult for them and for their caregivers.
The authors of this research, published in the journal eClinicalMedicine, analyzed data from 2,515,402 people with clinically significant anxiety or depression who completed a course of psychological therapy, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), self-help, and guided counseling and personal group or online sessions.
Up to 70% of patients reduced their symptoms
Of the total number of participants, 1,549 people had a previous diagnosis of dementia before starting treatment. Once they put all the data in relation, they found that in patients with dementia treatment with psychotherapy was beneficial, reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety by 63%. In addition, 40% stated that they had fully recovered.
People with dementia who suffer from anxiety and depression could reduce the symptoms of these psychological problems by up to 70% thanks to psychotherapy
Compared with the control group, the results of the work showed that 70% of the participants improved their symptoms of anxiety and depression and 47% recovered completely.
“Our findings suggest that while people with dementia are less likely to improve or recover than people without dementia, psychological therapies offered in primary care mental health services may be of benefit to them,” explains Georgia Bell. , lead author of the research.
These results emphasize the importance of people with dementia having good access to mental health support, since according to study data, 61% of patients with dementia require mental health support, however, in 2018, of a million referrals to psychological therapies only 0.2% were in patients with dementia.
Study limitations
In any case, it should be noted that the authors of this study could not infer causal relationships between receiving therapy and having an improvement in symptoms, since the study was observational in nature and a randomized control design would be needed to establish this. causality. On the other hand, the anxiety scale used in the questionnaires has not been validated for use in a sample of people living with dementia, which means that the measurement of anxiety may not be accurate.
Experts were also unable to distinguish well between the type of therapy given to patients during their IAPT treatment, so it’s not clear whether one type of therapy may be better than another for treating anxiety and depression in people living with dementia. .
Finally, the severity of dementia at the time of psychological treatment could not be taken into account either.
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