THE CANADIAN PSYCHOLOGY ASSOCIATION Executive Summary

There is extensive evidence demonstrating that psychotherapy can be an efficacious and effective health care service for a wide range of commonly experienced mental health and health conditions. This conclu-sion applies across the lifespan and is based on many hundreds of studies, including both randomized controlled trials and studies examining the impact of evidence-based psychological treatments delivered in typical clinical settings. Psychotherapy works for the treatment of depression. Contrary to popular belief, it works at least as well (if not better) for patients with severe symptoms as it does for those experiencing milder forms of depres-sion. Psychotherapy is as effective as medication in treating depression and is more effective than med-ication in preventing relapse. For some patients, the combination of psychotherapy and medication will be more beneficial than either treatment on its own. Compared to the use of medication alone for the treatment of bipolar disorder, combining psychotherapy with medication leads to patients functioning better and having fewer relapses. Emerging evidence sug-gests that adding psychotherapy to medication results in better treatment adherence, reduced subjective burden of disease, and lower suicide rates. In the treatment of anxiety and related disorders, there is strong evidence to support the use of psychother