Going to a psychologist can save your heart

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A new study by British scientists showed that psychotherapy for depression reduces the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases in people older than 45 years.

– People with cardiovascular disease have a higher incidence of depression than people without it, the experts explained. – Patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder have an approximately 72% higher risk of developing CVD than those without depression.

Depression is a modifiable risk factor associated with cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death worldwide.

“If depression is a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, it should be treated,” the scientists said. “This will help reduce the risk of developing the disease.” So, psychotherapy, or “talk therapy,” is an effective way to treat mental illness through discussion, listening, and counseling.

Scientists analyzed how reducing depressive symptoms with a psychotherapeutic intervention affects the risk of developing CVD. The researchers used electronic medical records of 636,955 British adults over 45 years of age with depression who had undergone psychotherapy. The participants did not have CVD or dementia. The average age of the participants was 55 years. 66% of them were women.

The participants' depression levels were measured before and after therapy using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), which rates nine items from zero (“none”) to three (“almost every day”). These factors include pleasure from doing any activities, feeling depressed, trouble sleeping or sleeping too much, low energy levels, and trouble concentrating.

Depression was defined as a score of 10 or higher on the PHQ-9. Improvement in depressive symptoms was defined as a decrease of six or more points on the PHQ-9 between the start and end of treatment.

Patients were followed to see if they developed CVD.

“If this happened, they were excluded from the study to reduce the possibility that previously undiagnosed CVD was the cause of the depression,” the experts explained.

After following the participants for 3 years, the researchers found that depressive symptoms improved in 59% of the participants and did not improve in 41%. Compared with those who did not improve, improving depression scores was associated with a 12% lower risk of developing any form of CVD, 11% lower risk of coronary heart disease, 12% lower risk of stroke, and 19% lower risk of all-cause mortality.

The correlation was stronger in people aged 45 to 60.

Improvement in depressive symptoms was associated with a 15% lower risk of CVD. In addition, in this age group with improved depression scores, the likelihood of death during follow-up was reduced by 22% compared with those whose depression scores did not improve. In people over 60, the reduction was 15%.

The researchers say that the magnitude of the reduction in cardiovascular disease risk after psychotherapy is comparable to the effect that can be seen after low-fat or low-carbohydrate diets, which modify CVD risk.

“Our study emphasizes the need for early intervention by professionals in mental health treatment,” they concluded.