Intrapersonal Therapy for Major Depressive Disorder

Major depressive disorder is more than feeling a little blue---in order for you to be diagnosed with major depressive disorder, you must have five or more symptoms of depression that have lasted more than two weeks. Patients with major depressive disorder have a hard time functioning and may contemplate harming themselves or suicide. However, there are many options for treating the symptoms of major depressive disorder, include intrapersonal therapy, where you rely on your own mind and consciousness to lift yourself out of a depressive mood.

Symptoms

• The symptoms of major depressive disorder can be broken up into ten sections: (1) agitation, restlessness or irritability; (2) a dramatic change in appetite that may result in weight gain or loss; (3) extreme difficulty with concentration; (4) feeling fatigued or having a lack of energy; (5) feeling hopeless or helpless; (6) feeling worthless; (7) self-hate or inappropriate guilt; (8) being inactive or withdrawing from activities that once gave you pleasure; (9) thoughts of self-harm, suicide or death; and (10) either trouble sleeping or sleeping excessively.

Intrapersonal Psychotherapy

• The theory behind intrapersonal psychotherapy is instead of dealing with outside forces in your life, you focus on your internal structure of consciousness. Therefore, instead of focusing on why people around you are doing you harm, you take the situational conflict intrapersonally and define your own choices.

Benefits

• Instead of putting blame on other people, intrapersonal therapy allows you to deal with internal issues that may be suppressed or that you may not be aware of. In addition, intrapersonal therapy allows you to take a situation and figure out why you are affected by it.

Drawbacks

• Intrapersonal therapy is a specialized form of therapy, and not all therapists may be trained in this type of therapy. If you tend to self-blame, which may be a cause of your depression, intrapersonal therapy may not be the type of therapy for you. However, if you decide to seek therapy as a way to deal with your major depressive disorder, you will have to find the right therapist and therapy style for you.

Other Options

• Many major depressive disorder patients also choose to go on medication alone or in combination with intrapersonal therapy. Going on antidepressant medication may be useful to you if you cannot function or you are contemplating suicide. Your therapist may be able to recommend medication or a psychiatrist.