Thinking your way out of depression - Ball - Article

On what core finding is treatment of depression based?

One of the core findings in psychology over the past 20 years is that individuals can choose the way they think and that thinking habits can be changed. This finding has had important implications for the psychological treatments of depression, especially for reactive types.

What is cognitive therapy based on?

One of the most popular interventions of depression is cognitive therapy, proposed by Albert Ellis, Marting Seligman, and Aaron Beck. Cognitive therapy is not only effective for treating depression, but it also helps prevent relapse and reduces drop out rates in therapy.

According to Aaron Beck, cognitive therapy is based on two ideas:

1. Depressed people have a systematic negative bias in their thinking.
2. The way one interprets events allows maintenance of the depression.

In other words, it is not the situation itself, but rather the way one interprets it at a particular moment, that determines one's feelings. This occurs via the ABC model: adverse situations, beliefs and automatic thoughts, and consequences.

There are three aspects that underlie Beck's approach to cognitive therapy:

1. The cognitive triad. This refers to the negative and biased view that one has about himself, his experiences, and the future.
2. Underlying beliefs or silent assumptions. This refers to templates or interpretive rules one has developed from early experiences which give rise to everyday thoughts or cognitions. For instance: "I must get people's approval" or "I must be valued by others or my life has no meaning". When treating depression, it is important to recognize these beliefs and to change them to challenging statements, such as: "My worth as a person does not depend on my achievements. I am worthwhile because I exist". Or, "It is frustrating when things do not go the way I want, but I will get over it. I can accept it, but not necessarily like that life is unfair".
3. Information processing. According to the cognitive model, depressed people make a number of distortions in the way they interpret information. Their information processing style causes passivity and depression. Examples are: arbitrary inferences or loopy conclusions, selective thinking, overgeneralizing, magnifying and catastrophizing, personalizing, and dichotomous (black and white) thinking.

What are the aims of cognitive therapy?

Cognitive therapy has two aims. First, it aims to reduce the frequency and severity of depressive episodes. Second, it aims to address the effects of the illness on one's self-esteem, identity, and relationships. This reduces the vulnerability to psychosocial stressors that are part of everyday life.

How does cognitive therapy work?

Cognitive therapy works as follows:

• Recognize the negative automatic thoughts.
• Dispute the automatic thoughts.
• Develop alternative positive explanations.
• Distraction from negative thoughts.
• Dispute the underlying beliefs.

Why does cognitive therapy work?

And why does cognitive therapy work? First, it provides one a set of skills to overcome depression. It changes negative, pessimistic thinking styles to more optimistic and positive ones. Second, it provides the mind a set of techniques for challenging itself.