Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapy often used to treat major depression and other mood disorders. Cognitive behavioral therapy takes longer to treat depressive episodes than depression medication, but is just as effective over the long term. Cognitive behavioral therapy has one major advantage over antidepressants: people who undergo CBT are less likely to suffer symptom relapses after depression treatment.
What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a broad term for a group of counseling therapies based on the same principle: that an individual’s thoughts influence his or her emotional states and actions. By identifying negative thought processes and replacing them with healthier thought patterns CBT changes how people react to stress and depression symptoms.
Types of CBT Used to Treat Depression
Types of cognitive behavioral therapy used to as depression therapy vary depending on the counselor’s training and the depressed person’s needs. common types of CBT used in depression counseling therapy include:
- Cognitive Therapy
- Dialectic Behavior Therapy
- Rational Behavioral Therapy
- Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
- Rational Living Therapy.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Rational Thinking
Cognitive therapy is an educational process as much as it is talk therapy. A CBT therapist helps patients identify unwanted or negative thoughts and teaches strategies to replace or reframe those thoughts in more positive frameworks. For instance, a person may panic when faced with a crisis. His thought processes compound the existing problem.
The crisis is no better or worse if the person panics, but by panicking the individual allows one problem – the crisis – turn into two difficulties – the crisis and the emotional turmoil caused by the panic.
Cognitive behavioral therapy reframes the crisis and the thoughts associated with it: panicking only worsens the crisis, while staying calm allows the person to think clearer and make better decisions. Rationally, it’s better to stay calm, and with practice a person can teach him or herself to do so.
CBT is a very hands-on form of psychotherapy. It’s not enough to simply talk about reframing emotional responses and changing behavior - for CBT to be effective the patient has to practice what he or she learns. Homework is assigned at the end of each CBT session. A depressed individual might, for instance, be asked to track feelings of guilt, including events and thoughts that trigger guilt. By tracking these feelings the patient can evaluate whether or not he feels guilt appropriately, or if the emotion is a conditioned response caused by depression.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is Short-Term
Some forms of depression therapy, such as psychodynamic therapy and psychoanalysis, are long-term treatment options that can run for years. Cognitive behavioral therapy runs over a much shorter time span. CBT sessions usually only run for ten to twenty sessions (the average length of cognitive behavioral therapy treatment is sixteen sessions).
CBT and Group Therapy
The practical, no-nonsense approach of cognitive behavioral therapy makes it well suited for group therapy. Members of a CBT therapy group share their experiences, offer each other advice on coping with symptoms, and take a team work approach to identifying negative thought processes.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Limits
Despite its effectiveness, cognitive behavioral therapy has some limitations as a depression therapy. To be effective, CBT requires patients be active participants in their own treatment – and severe depression saps a person’s energy and motivation. Patients may require antidepressant medication to alleviate depression symptoms prior to therapy.
CBT is not well-suited as the primary treatment for patients exhibiting suicidal behavior. Counseling therapy takes time to work, and suicidal patients require immediate treatment (including hospitalization if necessary). Once suicidal symptoms are under control, cognitive behavioral therapy can have a significant impact on depression treatment.
Resources
National Alliance on Mental Illness. (Retrieved 16 September, 2009). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
Nationla Association of Congitive-Behavioral Therapists. (Retrieved 16 September, 2009). Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.
Disclaimer: The information contained within this article is for informational purposes only, and is not intended to be a substitute in any way for care and treatment by a qualified health professional.
Michael McGrath - Michael McGrath began providing web content shortly after finishing his graduate degree in English at the University of Alberta. His broad ...
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