Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Depression
CBT for Depression in London.
A depressive disorder is characterised by the elements that cause depressed moods like emptiness, hopelessness, sadness, sudden loss of interest or pleasure. This can cause irritability and other physical symptoms like insomnia as well. People suffering from major depression can stay in dark rooms for hours and prioritise loneliness over gatherings.
How can Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Depression help?
Cognitive behavioural therapy works by educating the client about their situation and making them develop some insight. It teaches the client essential thinking and behavioural skills. CBT focusses on the clients getting back to the activities that they have left due to depression. It also involves helping the clients sort out their negative beliefs and thoughts.
According to Nice, CBT is very effective for depression. It helps the client know how they can make their situations better by overcoming negative thoughts. Also, the therapist might involve families and caregivers in the treatment so that it can be seen if the family environment is causing such issues. Sometimes the things going on at home can make a person fall into depression. It can include fights, the violence of any sort, or constant disturbance.
When is the right time to seek CBT for Depression?
If you are suffering from depression and show the following symptoms for more than a few weeks, it is time to seek professional help:
• Weight loss or gain.
• Difficulty in making decisions.
• Thoughts of suicide.
• Feeling worthlessness.
• Insomnia.
• Physical agitated.
How long does CBT for Depression usually last for?
The therapist usually uses different techniques related to the specificity of the situation. Usually, the therapies start from identifying the intensity of depression. If it is severe, it might take more time to sort out the issue. Next, the thoughts are evaluated that contribute to the feelings of the client. After that, the client is trained to replace those negative thoughts with positive ones. However, looking at the intensity of the situation, the treatment can take place between 5-20 sessions.
How does a person develop Depression?
Predisposing factors
Predisposing factors consist of childhood events that may increase vulnerability to developing depression. These are stressful and/or negative early life experiences that increase the likelihood of developing negative core beliefs and maladaptive coping strategies. Predisposing factors may include insecure attachments, a lack of intellectual stimulation, experience of authoritarian, punitive or neglectful parenting, parental focus on failure, family discord, family disorganization and stresses in early life including bereavement, socioeconomic disadvantage, or parental separations.
Core beliefs
Core beliefs in depression are centered on beliefs of being worthless or unlovable. The core belief about others is that others are rejecting and will leave when they discover this unworthiness. Examples of these core beliefs include: “I am inadequate”, “I am a failure”, and “I am bad”. These core beliefs lead to assumptions, such as “I will be rejected” or “I will end up alone”.
Precipitating factors for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Depression
Precipitating factors include stressful life events, such as those regarding loss, change or perceived failure.. For examples, bereavements, interpersonal conflict, loss of friendships, experience of bulling, changing home or schools or academic failure. These life events may trigger the experience of depression, as the predisposing factors have always left the individual vulnerable to depression. Conversely, the absence of predisposing factors makes the presence of the above triggers less likely to lead to experiencing depression.
Maintaining factors
Maintaining factors are those that prevent the cycle of depression from ending. Negative automatic thoughts stem from core beliefs. These are likely to consist of beliefs that others are rejecting them, or that there is something “wrong” with them. As the name suggests, these occur automatically and often are hard to pinpoint. Low self-esteem is also part of this maintenance cycle. Dysfunctional coping abilities in the face of negative events, such as rejections occur are a maintaining factor, as are biological factors such as disrupted sleep and drug use. These factors all increase the likelihood of the cycle continuing.
Protective factors
It is also important to note protective factors that are relevant to consider in CBT case formulations for depression. Protective factors are positive things in the person’s life that reduce their likelihood of experiencing depression and/or assist their recovery. Protective factors may include exercise, academic achievement, calm personality style, high self-esteem, support from family and friends, absence of current stressors and adaptive coping skills when negative automatic thoughts are triggered.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for depression in London - How we understand depression.
Here is a brief introduction to the CBT ideas and skills that can be helpful in improving low mood and depression. This will help you understand depression and how to address it even at difficult times in the your lives.
Below is an example of how a CBT for depression may look in brief:
Lucy’s friend cancels their plans to meet for lunch. Lucys starts to think: 'She doesn’t want to meet me because I’m boring. I have no friends. No one likes me'. As a result, Lucy feels sad. Lucy manages by not making plans with this friend in the future.
Lucy would benefit from seeing a CBT Therapist to deal with low mood and depression. The cancellation was the precipitating factor, which activated negative automatic thoughts regarding her perceived inadequacy and unlikable to others. Lucy's core beliefs probably looks like: 'I am worthless. I am unlovable.' As a result, Lucy lives with the assumption that others will reject her. She copes with avoidance - she avoids making plans with others due to fear of being rejected.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Depression in London
Cognitive Behavioural therapy is known to be one of the best therapies for treating depression. Researchers have found that most of the mood disorders are associated with our repetitive thoughts. Lucy's negative thoughts bring the ‘descent behaviour’ leading to depression. Cognitive behavioural therapy is focused on the fact that our emotions, thoughts, and actions are all interconnected. It treats the disorder from the depth to make sure the success. The best thing about CBT is that it induces insight and awareness and would make Lucy able to deal with situations on her own in a better way.