In the search for effective treatments for depression there have been many leaps forward but doctors always seem to be looking back. Many of the most popular treatments for depression today are throwbacks from another time, a time that we thought we had moved on from with our modern forms of medicine. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for depression is one of those throwbacks to a time when psychology and understanding of depressive disorders was young. Psychiatrists of that time believed in finding the root cause of depression rather than simply trying to treat it. They believed that finding that cause was a way to eliminate the depression altogether and that drug treatments were an additional measure to be used only when necessary. With the psychiatric drug culture of the 1970s, mental health doctors moved away from that idea to embrace what seemed to be a chemical cure for what ailed the mental state. Unfortunately, this caused a host of side effects that are still dealt with to this day.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for depression can be used for patients of all ages who suffer from depressive illnesses. The modern Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for depression focuses on the symptoms of the depression and the current events surrounding that depression but still has some elements of the old style which discusses the patient’s personal history with regard to the depression. The modern technique also employs the use of home application skills, ways you can apply the techniques learned during psychotherapy sessions with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for depression when you are at home. Over 75% of all patients who use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for depression see improvements.
Features of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression
Cognitive Restructuring – identifying and changing feelings and thoughts which lead to depressed feelings by discussing the habits of thinking and behavior in the life of the patient. They discuss distorted thoughts about themselves, their environment and what the future holds. It is usually found that the patient is involved in a terribly destructive cycle of depressive thoughts leading to depressive behaviors which lead to more depressive thoughts.
Behavioral Activation – finding and participating in enjoyable activities for the patient to change the habits that lead to depressive disorders. This improves depression by adding enjoyment to life and removing the idea that the future is bleak. When the patient has something to look forward to, they have a harder time dissolving into the depressive state because an increase in rewarding activity causes a decrease in the ability to become depressed.
Problem Solving – enhancing the patient’s ability to solve problems which lead to depressive feelings by showing that there is always an answer or alternative to the pessimistic view. The therapist actually trains the patient in ways to solve problems without immediately jumping to the conclusion that nothing will work out right. One popular method is breaking a big problem down into smaller parts that are easier to deal with.
Goals of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression
To identify, test and change the negative thoughts the patient is having about the self, the world and the future
To develop increasingly flexible thought patters that oppose the depressive thoughts
To practice the new thought and behavioral patterns learned during therapy.
