Recent Press Releases
- 9/10/2009: Treatment for depression without a therapist
- 18/3/2009: Blues Begone: Over 1000 patients treated - the real alternative to antidepressants
- 18/4/2007: World’s first Blues Begone Active Self Help Clinic Opens in Reading
- 16/4/2007: Blues Begone™ Putting Treatment for Depression into the Hands of the Sufferer
Treatment for depression without a therapist
Posted on: 9/10/2009
Clinically Effective Treatment for Depression and Anxiety; at home without a therapist
Sixty two percent of NHS patients cured of depression in their own home without a therapist. Blues Begone the remarkable Computer Based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy(CBT) package removed the need for expensive face to face therapy but gave clinical outcomes as good as a full course of face to face cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
Patients were given Blues Begone® to use at home. After 8 weeks of use 62% of patients were cured of clinical depression with an additional 10% showing substantial improvement. Similarly 50% of patients with clinical anxiety were cured after using Blues Begone® and a further 10% made substantial improvement.
Research published this week in the Journal Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy Volume 37, Issue 05, October 2009, pp 541-551, shows that patients can easily treat and cure themselves, given the right resources, without additional medical or therapy interventions, at a fraction of the cost of normal treatment.
Blues Begone helps people who may have suffered for years with depression to change their lives for the better. Without having to enter a medical system that makes them languish on a waiting list for months or years. Blues Begone® is the largest and most comprehensive computer-based CBT treatment package ever developed. It talks directly to the user and calls them by name, assesses them, then adapts itself to reflect the needs of the individual. No two users will ever experience the same Blues Begone® program. It gives between 20-40 hours of computer-based CBT. Blues Begone® is a whole course of Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy without the need to see a therapist, and it treats severe clinical depression as easily as mild to moderate clinical depression.
Mental illness is the biggest cause of misery in our society, with depression and anxiety being the two most common mental health problems in the world. The Psychiatric Morbidity Survey1 estimates
that 16% of adults of working age have a mental illness, with one in six adults suffering from depression or chronic anxiety.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)2, the NHS body responsible for providing national guidance on promoting good health and preventing and treating ill health, recommends that cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) should be offered to all patients with depression because it has the strongest evidence base, is of equal effectiveness to anti-depressants, is preferred by the majority of patients, and gives greater protection against relapse into depression.
However, the vast majority of patients cannot get CBT or any other kind of talking therapy on the NHS. There is also little CBT available in the private sector, and where it is available the average course of treatment costs around ₤7503.
The government solution to this problem is to invest tens of millions of pounds in the training of thousands of new CBT therapists. But Blues Begone® data shows that the majority of primary care patients do not need an expensive face to face course of treatment. The NHS underestimates the ability of the patient to treat and cure themselves. It fails to recognise there are newer more cost effective ways of treating the common disorders of depression and anxiety. These new treatments offer the promise of finally dealing with the epidemic of depression and anxiety that spoils the life of millions of people in the UK.
An Open Trial in the NHS of Blues Begone®: A New Home Based Computerized CBT Program
David G. Purves, Mary Bennett and Nigel Wellman
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, Volume 37, Issue 05, October 2009, pp 541-551
Blues Begone: Over 1000 patients treated - the real alternative to antidepressants
Posted on: 18/3/2009
Blues Begone: Over 1000 patients treated - the real alternative to antidepressants Home based cognitive behaviour therapy available to all in Berkshire. Depression and anxiety are increasingly common mental health problems in the Britain. Researchers estimate that by 2020 depression will be just behind heart disease as the leading cause of disability. This makes depression a serious public health problem. Every GP has approximately 80 depressed patients on their list. But, one problem is that depression can be hard to recognise and many people go untreated for years. That can ruin lives. When patients do get treatment it is likely to be by anti-depressant, but that can also bring its own problems and is often not even prescribed for mild depression on the advice of the government because of lack of clinical and cost effectiveness. This is real 21st Century therapy for problems that have previously defied a mass availability NHS solution. Blues Begone is available through GPs in West Berkshire and it can be bought online at www.bluesbegone.co.uk this puts treatment into the hands of the suffered for the first time in history.
When counselling is available, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy or CBT as it is known, is recommended by the government as a treatment of choice for depression. It is effective and does not take long to work through, although the government figures estimate it costs about £750 to provide a course of CBT for one patient. As might be expected it requires a trained CBT therapist to provide it and there are simply not enough of these, despite initiatives to increase training and availability.
There is now a solution. Dr David Purves and his brother Dr Byron Purves have been working, for 8 years, on an alternative to anti depressants for treating depression and anxiety. David is an academic and practicing consultant psychologist with many years of experience in treating people with depression and anxiety. He has married the usefulness of face to face therapy with the ability of modern computers to interact with the user. Byron with 40 years experience as a physicist and software engineer then created a sophisticated computer system to deliver this computerised CBT approach.
David said "you would be truly amazed at how well people can help themselves out of depression if they have the right tools; the problem is that until now the tools have just not been available to do that." An NHS patient said "this is amazing, why didn't I get this years ago?"
As serious scientists David and Byron have spend nearly 3 years researching the effectiveness of Blues Begone with depressed patients in the NHS. They have treated over 1000 patients so far. All of their clinical trials show the same pattern of results. Blues Begone is a very effective treatment for both depression and anxiety with no side effects. Moreover, it is as effective as face to face CBT in treating depression and it can even treat severe cases of depression. In addition, their research shows that Blues Begone is generally more effective than anti-depressants.
Contact Details
Dr David Purves
Blues Begone
17 Eldon Square
Reading
Berskhire RG1 4DP
Tel: +[44] (0)118 9751704
Email: d.purves@bluesbegone.co.uk
World’s first Blues Begone Active Self Help Clinic Opens in Reading
Posted on: 18/4/2007
The UK's first clinic offering computerised cognitive behaviour therapy (CCBT) to members of the public using the revolutionary Blues BegoneTM program has opened at the Life Story Therapeutic Centre in Reading, endorsed by the leading mental health charity Depression Alliance, which has organised the current Depression Awareness Week.Blues Begone™ Putting Treatment for Depression into the Hands of the Sufferer
Posted on: 16/4/2007
Treatment for Depression where and when it is needed: Depression Alliance and Self Help Solutions Ltd for Depression Awareness Week are bringing computerised cognitive behaviour therapy (CCBT) to general availability through the revolutionary Blues BegoneTM program. This will enable people, for the first time, to access CCBT without having to be in the NHS system, thereby helping people to help themselves. The launch of Blues Begone in the UK has been arranged to be a part of the Depression Awareness Week events.
