The cognitive approach to treating depression

CBT- cognitive behaviour therapy

• Most common treatment for depression

• Cognitive- challenge negative, irrational thoughts

• Behavioural- change the behaviour so its adaptive

what is CBT ?

Its a way of talking about:

• How you think about yourself, the world and other people

• How what you do affects your thoughtd and feelings

• CBT can help you change how you think and what you do. These changes can help you to feel better. Unlike some of the other talking treatments it focuses on the here and now problems and difficulties. Instead of focusing on the causes of your distress or symptoms in the past, it looks for ways to improve current state of mind

How does CBT work ?

• CBT can help you to make sense of overwhelming problems by breaking them down into smaller parts. This makes it easier to see how they are connected and how they affect you these parts could be:

• A situation- a problem difficult event or situation causing

• Thoughts

• Emotions

• Physical feelings

• Actions

extra info CBT

• Developed. In the 1950s by ellis originally rational therapy

Ellis’ ABCDEF model

A- activating event

B- beliefs

C- consequence

D- disputing irrational thoughts and beliefs

E- effects of disputing

F- the new feelings and emotions you experience

Logical disputing

self disputing beliefs do not follow logically from the information available

Empirical disputing

self defeating beliefs may not be consistent with reality

Pragmatic disputing

emphasises the lack of usefulness of self defeating beliefs

What does CBT involve ?

• It can be done individually in a group, in a self help book or computer programme

• Will normally be over 5-20 weekly sessions lasting from 30-60 minutes

• In the fist 2-4 sessions the therapist will check you feel comfortable and can use this treatment

• Might talk about somethings from the past to help understand how it affects the person now

• You decide what you want to deal with in the short, medium and long term

Homework

doing something outside the therapists office to help yourself

Behavioural activation

become active as it acts as an antidote for depression

Unconditional positive regard

Value yourself- the therapist will provide praise and appreciation to the client

Example PEEL 1

• It is one of the most effective treatments for conditions where anxiety or depression is the main problem

• It is the most effective psychological treatment for moderate and sever depression

• It is as effective as antidepressants for many types of depression

• Give the patients control as it gets to the root cause of the issues

Example PEEL 2

• There are individual differences between patients

• CBt is more suitable for some than others. It is not effective for those who have high levels of irrational beliefs and are rigid to change

• Research has shown that cbt is not suitable for people with learning difficulties

• This means that CBT is only appropriate for a specific range of clients