For how we live.
Rumination — replaying the same worries on a loop — is a genuine risk factor for depression, and the best trials show it can be trained down, though no single technique clearly beats the rest.
A network meta-analysis of 54 trials put behavioural and cognitive therapies ahead of the drugs on OCD symptoms. But most therapy trials also allowed antidepressants, hinting the two work best together.
A Cochrane network meta-analysis compared eight talking therapies for panic disorder. Cognitive behavioural therapy came out ahead most often — but the effects were small and the evidence graded low throughout.
The largest network meta-analysis of social anxiety disorder ranked 41 options against each other. Individual CBT came out on top, and it was one of only two treatments to clearly beat a placebo.
Cognitive behavioural therapy is one of the few non-hormone options the North American Menopause Society backs at its top evidence level. What it changes is how much flushes bother you, not the thermostat.
In the largest head-to-head trial, a simpler therapy delivered by junior staff matched full CBT — mean difference 0.1 PHQ-9 points. A Cochrane review finds no difference between the two.
A German trial in 1,793 students found a cognitive-behavioural programme reduced gaming and internet-use disorder symptoms only in high-risk adolescents — not across the whole classroom.
A network meta-analysis of 331 trials and 34,285 adults found no significant differences between the main psychotherapies, with one exception. In children and adolescents the picture is narrower.