Offering older people psychological support over the phone could help to reduce depression and loneliness, a new study suggests. Researchers said that people who had a type of therapy, delivered via a weekly phone call over eight weeks, showed improvements in mental health. The study, led by academics from the UK’s University of York, Hull York Medical School and at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, saw experts give therapy to patients recruited from GP surgeries across England and Wales. Some 218 were given the “behavioural activation” treatment and 217 people received “usual c…