BEIJING, April 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Cognitive therapy may work as well as antidepressants in the early phases of treating depression, a US study showed.

Talk therapy can work as well as antidepressants in severely depressed people and it should also be used as a first line of defense, University of Pennsylvania researchers concluded in a study published Monday.

    In a study of 240 patients, researchers found that cognitive therapy, a type of treatment that teaches patients to think more realistically, worked as well as a popular antidepressant for moderate to severe depression, University of Pennsylvania researchers concluded in a study published Monday.

    However, the findings do not support the current American Psychiatric Association guidelines which recommend medication at that stage.

    Lead researchers Robert DeRubeis, a Penn psychologist, and Steven Hollon at Vanderbilt argued that the American Psychiatric Association should change its treatment guidelines for moderate to severe depression.

    The research, funded by a $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Enditem

    (Agencies)