'Take new look at depression'

A LEADING psychology counsellor from Edinburgh has criticised new guidelines for treating patients with depression.

Jo Hilton, who works with the Person Centred Therapy Scotland organisation, said the exclusion of counselling as a treatment for the illness was wrong.

The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) recently announced that there wasn't sufficient evidence for counselling as a successful treatment of depression, which affects thousands across the Capital.

This comes at a time when the Scottish Government wants to drive down the number of anti-depressant pills issued by GPs.

Ms Hilton said: "Scotland is a world-class centre of expertise on counselling research – yet SIGN appears to have ignored the evidence Scotland has to offer."