Treat Your Depression over the
Phone
A new approach that uses automated phone calls to treat depression may be as effective as mainstream treatments. The COPE self-help program for depression uses an innovative combination of written materials and automated telephone calls to help people treat their own depression. It was developed by a team of psychologists and psychiatrists including Lee Baer, Ph.D. - on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, John H. Greist, M.D. - of the Madison Institute of Medicine, Isaac Marks, M.D. - past President of both the British and European Associations of Behavior Therapy, and Deborah Osgood-Hynes, Psy.D. - a clinical psychologist on staff at Massachusetts General Hospital.
A study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry found this program to be effective in treating mild and moderate depression. The results compare favorably to results published elsewhere for antidepressant medications and for cognitive therapy.
Why treat depression this way? It's convenient and relatively inexpensive. The developers and researchers report that most people have used COPE between the hours of 5 p.m. and 9 a.m. or on weekends. The program costs $295, but is available for $195 for a limited time as the program rolls out nationally in the U.S. This compares very favorably to the cost of psychotherapy and medications.
| The results compare favorably to results published elsewhere for antidepressant medications and for cognitive therapy. |
The written materials for this program include:
- Starter Kit booklet (31 pages)
- Constructive Thinking booklet (97 pages plus blank workbook pages)
- Pleasant Activities booklet (56 pages)
- Assertive Communication booklet (35 pages)
- Down with Gloom booklet (26 pages)
- Grieving booklet (32 pages)
- Maintaining Your Gains booklet (9 pages)
- Antidepressant Medications (2 page chart)
The booklets are well-written and practical. They could easily be used to supplement psychotherapy, especially for clients who want practical work that they can do between sessions. Callers can choose between telephone calls recorded in a male voice and a female voice. A computer listens for touch tones and customizes the program to the user's responses. A depression screening test is even administered over the phone. This is an innovative approach that is easily scalable. By adding computers and telephone lines thousands of people can be treated simultaneously for depression with this approach.
The COPE website at copewithlife.com is a good place to find out more about the program. The RealAudio sample did not work well for me, so the demo phone call at 1-877-272-3393 might be a better bet if you want to hear what a "session" is like. Will this treatment modality replace face-to-face therapy? I don't think so. I can see the possibility that insurance companies may pay for it in the future. Managed care is always looking for treatments that are effective and inexpensive. COPE seems to fit the bill.
The COPE Website at Copewithlife.com
Reference
Osgood-Hynes, et. al., Self-Administered psychotherapy for Depression Using a Telephone-Accessed Computer System Plus Booklets: An Open U.S.-U.K. Study. .J. Clin. Psychiatry 59:7, July 1998.