How CBT helps with depression.
If you have depression, you are likely to feel trapped and stuck in your life much of the time and to lose interest in things you used to enjoy. Depression impacts on thoughts, feelings and behaviours . Thoughts in depression tend to be negative. Feelings can include despair, irritability, emptiness, apathy and anger. Behaviours typically involve avoidance, withdrawal and escape.
A typical thought may be ‘what’s the point’ linked to a feeling of hopelessness with the behaviour of staying in bed or not going out.
Depression affects people in different ways and can cause a wide variety of symptoms. Cognitive Behaviour Therapists will consider with you your thoughts, feelings and behaviours in your experience of depression. The aim of treatment will be to generate more positive feelings by engaging in ‘antidepressant’ behaviours and by accessing helpful responses to negative thoughts or by gaining distance from them.
For some people depression really impacts on functioning & can be quite obvious to those around them. For others it’s possible to keep going with many of their day to day tasks and outwardly seem ok but feel persistently low. However down you may be feeling now, remember that depression is treatable. CBT is the treatment of choice for mild to moderate depression. If you think you may have depression, please contact us and let us help you. If symptoms of depression are severe, and medication is required, then it has a greater effect if combined with CBT. Guidelines on depression, produced by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommend CBT as an effective psychological treatment to overcome depression and stay well. All our CBT Therapists are BABCP accredited therapists, so all are specifically trained to treat depression with CBT.
