Psychological interventions are just as effective as antidepressants in preventing major depression disorder (MDD) relapse after tapering the drugs, according to the first systematic review on the topic.

And the findings provide further evidence that a combination of the two approaches significantly reduces the risk of relapse when compared with taking antidepressants alone.

The research team, led by the University of Amsterdam, included 11 trials involving a total of 1559 participants in their systematic review and meta-analysis covering psychotherapies such as CBT or mindfulness-based cognitive therapy.

Most of the participants were living in the US, UK or the Netherlands and were considered to be at a high risk of relapse, with just over half of the studies having patients who had at least three previous episodes of MDD.