Techniques of CBT for Major Depressive Disorder

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is not a single method of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, rather it is a set of psychological techniques, that is applied to treat the symptoms of major depression in a patient. Understanding some of these techniques can help make the benefits of therapy more apparent to people who are considering it and can make the therapy more effective for them as well.

What We Think and Feel is Often Inherited

• Many of the things we feel, think and believe have been handed down to us from friends and family members based on their own experiences and insights. Sometimes, these adopted ideas are detrimental to us.
  For example, a parent may have worked hard to make a son or daughter a fierce competitor, but the "win or fail" mentality may not be a comfort when a grown child is seeking a life as an artist or working to raise children. "Winning" in these contexts is hard to define.
  By taking time to evaluate thoughts and beliefs carefully and with the help of a licensed therapist with the training required to help us think clearly, calmly and honestly about how we feel, we may be able to let go of dysfunctional ideas or beliefs that cause major depression.

Very Targeted, Very Fast Therapy

• CBT is specifically designed to be be very fast, very effective therapy. A therapist works with a patient to achieve an alleviation of major depressive symptoms, not to help them explore their childhood or repair any and all other problems they may have socially or professionally. Most patients have an average of 16 therapy sessions, and they may need far fewer based upon their commitment to healing and their comfort with evaluating long-held thoughts and beliefs. Some patients may come back from time to time to deal with additional depressive episodes, but they do not invest in long-term, open-ended therapy.
  CBT is an educational process by which the therapist and the patient learn how to handle the causes and symptoms of a patient's depression effectively.

A Focus on Calm

• CBT does not seek to make people happy or to help them solve all their problems. Generally, CBT seeks to help people manage their emotions so they feel significantly less emotional distress when encountering situation that upset, anger, frighten or sadden them.
  Reducing emotional distress makes patients feel better and helps them think more clearly about problems as they are happening. This usually results in a better outcome. A depressed person facing a crisis is really dealing with two big problems.

How To Treat Major Depression with CBT

• Find a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist. Review your symptoms of depression and what you believe has caused that depression. Discuss your desire to find a better way to handle your depressive symptoms and to reduce your feelings of distress in the situations that you believed caused them. Work with your therapist to explore your feelings and to try new approaches to dealing with your thoughts, beliefs and emotions. If you do not see improvement in symptoms over the course of eight or more sessions, despite working carefully and honestly with your therapist, you may want to consider finding a new therapist. Getting the right therapy from the right professional usually delivers results quickly. Not every therapist is right for every patient.