Psychotherapy for Depression Treatment
A variety of psychotherapy interventions have been shown to be effective for depression. When it comes to therapy, there are a number of different theories of change that lead to different ways of solving patients problems. In this article we will briefly review those theories as they relate to depression treatment.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT For Depression
Cognitive behavioral depression treatment focuses on identifying the negative thoughts that lead to the symptoms of depression. These are usually thought of as automatic negative thoughts, particular related to the self. A cognitive behavioral therapist believes that negative thoughts lead to negative behaviors (including the generation of experiences of depression.) Therefore, the cure for depression is to help you interupt and control your automatic thoughts, so that they become more positive and inspire more positive actions. research has shown that cognitive behavioral psychotherapy is an effective treatment for depression, but this type of treatment also has a reputation for producing mostly short-term positive results that may fade over time.
Psychodynamic Or Psychoanalytic Therapy For Depression
Psychodynamic depression treatment focuses instead on the internal meanings that your depression has for you. The depression symptoms are seen as metaphorical ways of dealing with something even more upsetting. For example, many theorists have hypothesized the seeming sadness of the depressed patient actually represents anger that the patient has turned inward toward themselves.
Client-Centered Depression Therapy
This type of therapy assumes that the client has a natural tendency to self-actualize, but that in order to realize this natural tendency they must receive unconditional positive regard from an important figure in their life. So in the case of depression treatments, client-centered psychotherapists will want to allow the client to explore their feelings in their own way. The therapist’s job is to provide a supportive environment for this process to take place, so that it will be a fruitful one that leads to personal growth and development.
Hypnosis
You will often hear about hypnotic depression treatment as though it were a specific type of intervention. In fact you should know that hypnosis is not a type of psychotherapy; rather it is a tool that a psychotherapist can use as a part of their therapy. You can receive cognitive hypnosis for depression, psychodynamic or psychoanalytic depression hypnosis, exploratory or hypnoanalytic interventions, or ego-stengthening supportive hypnosis. Each of these utilizes hypnosis as a tool of the therapist’s characteristic theoretical orientation. So when we talk about treating depression with hypnosis, we might be talking about any number of things.