TOPLINE:

Adding cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to the antipsychotic quetiapine for the treatment of mood disorders outperformed quetiapine alone for reduced risk for suicide, improved depressive symptoms, and enhanced coping after 12 weeks, a new study showed.

METHODOLOGY:

• Investigators conducted a prospective trial from 2024 to 2025 and included more than 100 adults with mood disorders.
• Patients were randomly assigned to receive either oral quetiapine alone (n = 74; mean age, 32 years; 65% women) or quetiapine plus CBT (n = 74; mean age, 31 years; 69% women).
• In addition to quetiapine, the combination group received weekly 50-minute sessions of CBT for 12 weeks, covering modules such as emotional recognition, behavioral activation, thought challenging and substituting, and social skills improvement. The quetiapine-only group also received treatment as usual, consisting of psychoeducation and self-management.
• The primary outcome measure was the Nurses Global Assessment of Suicide Risk scale. Secondary measures included the 24-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire.

TAKEAWAY:

• The percentage of patients with a high risk for suicide was significantly lower in the quetiapine plus CBT group than in the quetiapine-only group (13% vs 30%; P = .02) after 12 weeks of treatment.
• Suicide risk scores and depressive symptom severity scores were also significantly lower in the combination group (mean difference [MD], -1.7 and -6.5, respectively), indicating significant treatment effects (P < .01 for both).
• Additionally, the combination group had higher positive coping scores (MD, 2.4) and lower negative coping scores (MD, -2.3) than the quetiapine-only group, with significant treatment effects in both cases (P < .01).

IN PRACTICE:

“Clinical benefits from CBT combined with quetiapine suggest patients with mood disorder and suicide risk receiving pharmacotherapy should also be offered skills-based psychosocial interventions that emphasize illness management strategies and enhance coping skills,” the investigators wrote.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Ke Wang, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China. It was published online on January 03 in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

LIMITATIONS:

The absence of long-term effectiveness analysis limited the durability of improvements in coping and the risk for suicide. Additionally, the single-center design and restriction to adult participants limited the generalizability of findings to other centers and age groups.

DISCLOSURES:

Funding information was not disclosed. The investigators reported no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.