Speaker: David Antonuccio
Dr. David Antonuccio is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, where he taught for 32 years. Concurrently, he worked for 24 years at the VA Medical Center in Reno. He has also had a private practice for more than 35 years. He served on the Nevada State Board of Psychological Examiners from 1990 to 1998. His clinical and research interests include the behavioral treatment of depression, anxiety, and smoking. He was named Outstanding Psychologist in 1993 by the Nevada State Psychological Association (NSPA), received an Award of Achievement from NSPA in 1999 for his work on depression, was named the 2000 recipient of the McReynolds Foundation Psychological Services Award for “outstanding contributions to clinical science”, and received the APAHC (Association for Psychologists in Academic Health Settings) Bud Ogel Award for Distinguished Achievement in Research in 2006. He was named the 2011 recipient of the Ira Pauly Award for outstanding residency teaching in psychiatry at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. His articles on the comparative effects of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy have received extensive coverage by the national media and are models of careful scholarship. He is author or coauthor of over 100 publications.
In 2020, the National Register of Health Service Psychologists selected Professor Antonuccio as Alfred M. Wellner Lifetime Achievement Award for Research Excellence. They selected him based on his dedication to advocacy and leadership in psychology. Among his many accomplishments, Dr. Antonuccio testified in the 2004 FDA hearings on the increased suicide risk of antidepressants in children, testimony that contributed to the black box warnings on antidepressant use in children. He has published and presented extensively on the efficacy of antidepressants and on the behavioral treatment of smoking cessation.
Topic
This Hayek Group talk will highlight depression studies that compare medications with psychological interventions, alone or in combination. Dr. Antonuccio has published extensively on this topic and has concluded from this research that the psychological interventions are as effective as the medications in the short run and more effective (i.e., they offer more enduring benefit than the medications) when follow-up longer than 6 months is considered. This is separate from the adverse events and side effects caused by the medications, a much higher risk from the pills. The goal would be to teach non-prescribers and the lay public how to navigate the conversation about treatment choices.
