Therapy Techniques to Help Cope with Depression

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]If you are clinically depressed, seeking therapy may be the best option for you to learn how to cope with your mental illness.

However, there are many changes you can make to your lifestyle to begin to be healthier in the body and the mind.

Depression therapy takes the form of cognitive-behavioral therapy, and your therapist may take various approaches to find the treatment that you respond best to.

Let’s explore some therapy techniques to treat depression.

Cognitive Therapy – The Most Ideal Therapy For Depression

A renowned psychologist developed cognitive behavioral therapy 60 years ago to treat depression, and it is based on the observation that thoughts affect emotions.

Cognitive therapists have observed that people who suffer from depression are typically at the mercy of their negative thought patterns and keep themselves in a depressed state of mind by excessively wallowing in negativity.

It is a trial and error process, and instead of letting depression take hold of you, you should try your level best to return to a sense of normalcy so that you do not completely isolate yourself and make that the new norm.

Although the cause of depression has been linked to a chemical imbalance in the brain by different studies, many people have found anti-depressants not to treat the root cause of depression.

The evidence suggests that it works for some people and doesn’t for others.

Why is this so?

Medication does not allow you to change the underlying thought and emotional patterns in your life, although that’s not to say that it doesn’t help a lot of people.

Depression therapy helps by addressing the constant negative thoughts you may notice to be automatic, which can shatter self-esteem and create a negative sense of self.

Some of these include:

‘I am a failure and always will be.’

‘No matter what I do, I can never overcome who I am.’

‘I am doomed to stay the same forever.’

Although some of these thoughts may reflect a portion of the truth, there is no doubt that they are largely exaggerated feelings that have become embedded in a depressed person’s psyche.

These exaggerations often distort a person’s sense of reality, which can fuel depression.

Using cognitive therapy, people can identify the negative thoughts and the core beliefs underlying them and change their response to the feelings they create.

How Cognitive Therapy Works

Cognitive therapy allows individuals to see the problem, recognize the negative thoughts and feelings that contribute to the depression, and change their actions in response to these persisting feelings.

Your therapist will work with you to break down these thoughts into individual components so that they are easier to deal with. Over the course of several therapy sessions, you will learn to apply these tools to make changes that solve specific issues in your life.

It’s not about radical change all at once; it’s more about small changes in thinking and behavior each day that compound into a shift in the mind, which can improve the quality of your thoughts and emotions.

More Life Recovery Center helps treat patients experiencing depression with the help of many qualified medical professionals.

Cognitive Therapy Techniques

Some of the common forms of cognitive-behavioral therapy your therapist might take you through include cognitive processing therapy, cognitive therapy, and rational emotive therapy.

These are tools that your therapist can use according to your specific problems, and these are all scientifically backed approaches that are known to yield results.

Cognitive processing therapy involves developing a good rapport with your therapist and mainly treats symptoms of PTSD that may emerge in patients due to some past trauma that is persisting in daily life.

When sufficient trust and safety are established, you can expect your therapist to help you recall the memory of the triggering event that may have catapulted you into depression.

On the other hand, cognitive therapy is mainly used for conditions like major depressive disorder. It works by using tools to remedy the patient’s cognitive distortions about reality, self, and others.

Your therapist will also address negative views of the future in this form of therapy. These are major problems that can wreak havoc in a person’s daily life due to the helplessness and catastrophizing of problems.

Depression can lead to suicide, which is why it helps to find the right therapist who is well versed in the different therapies described above.

Final Verdict

Depression is a serious condition that can lead people to take their own lives, which is why therapeutic intervention is crucial in order to give people a fighting chance to overcome their mental illness from the inside.

Our thoughts and emotions dictate our reality, and healing has to begin by addressing our internal states, which is why depression therapy should be sought by patients suffering from depression. More Life Recovery Center helps treat patients experiencing depression with the help of many qualified medical professionals. Talk to us, today![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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