Psychotherapy does work, and the science and research are there to back it up. With an effective therapist, science shows that psychotherapy even works better in the long-term and is more enduring than medication. In fact, not only is it more cost-effective, but psychotherapy leads to fewer relapses of anxiety and mild to moderate depression than medication use alone—so much so that the American Psychological Association states that psychological interventions, not medications, should be applied first in treatment of mild to moderate depression and anxiety .