When counselling doesn't help in depression

If your loved one is suffering from depression lately or has developed modest anxiety-related disorder, taking him/her to a psychological therapist may not be the best solution.

Keeping a watch over his/her response to the therapies is essential as researchers have now found that misjudged counselling and therapy could leave vulnerable people more depressed.

"Most people are helped by therapy, but ?anything that has transformative power to change your life has also got the ability to make things worse if it is misapplied or it is the wrong treatment or it is not done correctly," Glenys Parry from University of Sheffield in Britain was quoted as saying.

For mild to moderate depression and anxiety, cognitive behaviour therapy is often preferred over pills, but awareness about misjudged therapies is generally very low.

For the study, the researchers analysed data routinely collected by therapists as well as the results of clinical trials.

They included point scores of the levels of depression before and after courses of treatment and self-reported levels of wellbeing.

They interviewed therapists and clients to find out what goes wrong and when and how.

The researchers have used the findings from the research project to set up a website called supporting safe therapy to help people going through any form of psychological counselling and offers guidance on what to expect and advice if things go wrong, The Guardian reported.