What is it about?
Depression in advanced cancer is common and causes much distress for patients and their families. The Discern trial has found that a single interview where patients are encouraged to share what has helped them and how they have coped with difficult situations in the past , can help to reduce depression and that depression can be reduced for up to six weeks when compared to patients who did not have the interview.
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Why is it important?
Many studies have tried to use "talking therapies" to treat depression in patients with cancer but have found that there was little effect on depression. The fact that in our study patients who had the interview ( in addition to their usual treatment which can include antidepressant medication) were less depressed and this was continued to 6 weeks is an important finding. We will be carrying out a full trial to explore our findings further.
Perspectives
The intervention used in the Discern pilot trial has been developed directly with research and views of patients with advanced cancer who were depressed. We believe that this may explain why it appears to have a benefit for patients and are eager to take this research forward to help more patients with advanced cancer who are depressed
Mari Lloyd-Williams
University of Liverpool
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Pilot randomised controlled trial of focused narrative intervention for moderate to severe depression in palliative care patients: DISCERN trial, Palliative Medicine, June 2017, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0269216317711322.
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