How People Overcoming Depression by Using a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Approach - Essay Example

College Introduction Depression is a condition of mental disturbance, complexity in maintaining concentration or interest in life and lack of energy. It is caused by various factors which include negative thinking, improper diet, physical problems, not having enough sleep, lack of exercise and illness. Depression may affect how we think or behave. A psychological disorder is a pattern of behavioral or emotional symptoms that shock various life areas and it create distress to the person experiencing it, it is also known as mental disorder (Andrew, Jason, Evan, and Beck 2006). Psychological disorder may involve behaviors, emotions and thoughts that cause significant self distress which make a person to be unable to meet personal needs or lack ability to work. Therapy is the treatment to heal or to reduce a disorder. A therapist is a person who helps a person or people with psychological disorder by working together as a team to discover and solve problems (Aaron 2011). Cognitive behavioral therapy is a type of therapy which combines cognitive and behavioral therapy. Cognitive behavior therapy is a type of mental and emotional treatment which helps patients to understand feeling and understand thoughts which influence behaviors (Beck and AJShaw 1979). Cognitive behavior therapy is focused on assisting the clients in dealing with specific problem and is normally short term. This program is based on the fact that during depression, the internal processes are working. The same internal processes can be used for treatment of the individuals suffering from the depressions. therefore the main task in treating such patients is to develop skills to identify the specific pieces tat go into depression which include understanding the thinking patterns that is related to depression condition. Next we focus on how to change the lifestyle which includes making strategies for change. Academic research To get information on Cognitive behavioral therapy, I reviewed several psychotherapy research outcomes based on evidence based methods. To find out more current trials, Medline, and information, I used medical database, textbooks and journals. I also reviewed the available systematic surveys and meta-analyses together with identified studies by use of established inclusion/Exclusion criteria. I found that there is enough evidence on efficacy of CBT and more studies are needed to improve the positive outcome rates on patients with certain mental disorders. Behavioral therapy is a type of approach based on learning theory; it aims at helping individual to overcome the hard situation which may affect him or her negatively (Wright, Williams and Garland 2002). The most effective treatment for depression is cognitive behavioral therapy, its goal is to aid an individual to recognize depressing patterns of thought and evaluate their soundness and help to think positively. Cognitive therapy is a type of psychotherapy which treats emotional, psychological and mental problems by identifying errors thought processes of a patient; it is one of types of cognitive-behavioral therapy (Beck and AJShaw 1979). Cognitive therapy is a kind of treatment process which helps the patients to correct false self-beliefs which may lead to depressing behaviors and moods (Self-help therapies 2012). The study shows that cognitive therapy is one of the effective cures for depression compares with other therapies. Depression is a severe problem which can lead to relapse in those clients who are addicted.  Evidence has shown that cognitive therapy decreases lapse rates in patients who have depression and a number of evidence has shown that cognitive therapy is effective for teenagers with depression (Self-help therapies 2012). Cognitive therapy reduces relapse rates for severe major depression and relentless brutal lasting signs, in both target to treat and treated per protocol samples. The cumulative relapse rate for sixty eight weeks reduced significantly from forty seven percent to twenty nine percent in the clinical management control group because of cognitive therapy, this is a clear indication that cognitive behavioral therapy is effective treatment (Rothbaum 2007). Cognitive therapy assists depressed individuals to recognize and cure dysfunctional thinking or negative thinking patterns and give guidelines on how to solve them. In cognitive therapy, the therapist helps the client to work through numerous steps which can help him or her; the steps are as follows; First, the patient agreed that some of his or her interpretations and perceptions of reality may not be true because of biological, hereditary or past experience reasons which can leads to negative thoughts. Secondly, the client learns to identify the depressing thoughts and find alternative thoughts which reflect the truth more closely. Thirdly, the individual then decides alone whether the evidence supports those thoughts which are negative or the alternative thought. Preferably the individual should recognize distorted thinking and restructure the situation. Cognitive–behavioral therapy help individual to change how he or she thinks, this is known as Cognitive therapy and what he or she does is known as Behavioral therapy (Overcoming Anhedonia/Depression with CBT? 2012). Discussion As a result of evidence based methods on preventive healthcare, I applied a study design on hierarchy. I applied rigorous criteria and I used the evidence from randomized control trials only. The none-academic materials that I used include discussion forums on medical fraternity, online websites and blogs. To obtain responds, a question was chosen that seek to find real experiences of the people on cognitive behavioral therapy. The question was as follows. In your own experience, does cognitive behavioral therapy works? Some of the responds that were recorded were as follows. Respondent 1 A Behavioral therapy professional can help someone through the therapy since he will push you hard enough and make sure that you are honest to yourself. The objective of the program is to teach the person the skills to changes their behaviours. For example, the people who are shy in party may have negative feelings about themselves and may therefore lack social skills. Respondent 2 CBT requires commitment of time and effort that is required in the program. Low self-esteem makes you negative, powerless and destructive which impact on the happiness, relationship and work. Through the program, the person is taught beneficial behaviours. For example, they can be taught the conversational skills which they may practice in therapy and in social gatherings. Negative feelings and thinking will be reduced as the person discovers that he can enjoy himself socially. Respondent 3 CBT have been very helpful to me. Basically, I’ve found it alleviate anxiety when my brain is busy working positively, especially when someone guides you. Paperwork work made me to turn away from CBT. I tried alone but didn’t help much. Respondent 4 I’ve tried it. It didn’t work for me personally. It just tries to teach you to change your way of thinking and replace with new ones, which I have done before. Cognitive behavioural therapy is based on what works and emphasis on what on effecting change and helping yourself out of faulty feelings and thinking patterns. It focuses on feelings, thoughts and behavior as they influence the person’s quality of life. Shyness in social places may be influenced by person’s thinking that other people may find them to be stupid or boring. This may cause anxiety in social places. Their behavior may include sweating stammering, which may become worsen by every bad experience. Cognitive behavioural therapy aims to teach the person that it is possible control such behaviours, and helps the persons modify their behaviours. In most cases it produces magnificent positive results. It also shows an individual on how their thinking can affect their mood and to educate them on how to think in a more positive way about themselves and life in general. It is based on the understanding that thinking negatively is a habit, and like any other bad habit, it can be broken and be turn into positive thinking. Cognitive behavioral therapy is normally done by well trained therapists either in small groups or one-on-one therapy sessions. During this session, individuals are trained to see rationally at the evidence for their negative thoughts, and to change the manner, they analyzed the world around them. The session will differ from person to person but most range between six to ten sessions with assignment provide between the sessions by therapist (Borkovec and Costello 1993). Therapist organizes forum to discuss the causes of depression their treatment, they teach their clients on how to over come depression and live in a more positive live. This research focuses on how people overcoming depression by using a cognitive behavioral therapy approach. Cognitive behavioral therapy is based on two particular responsibilities, one is cognitive restructuring, these is where the patient and the therapist work jointly to change the patterns of thinking and behavioral activation in which individual find out how to overcome obstacles through participating in pleasing duties. It focuses on particular problems of an individual or group sessions, problem thinking and behaviors are recognized, prioritized, and dealt with. Cognitive behavioral therapy is target oriented (Overcoming Anhedonia/Depression with CBT? 2012). Therapists asked their clients to define working. Individuals working with their therapists are asked to identify goals for every session and longer-term goals which are required to be achieved. Goals which are long term may take a number of weeks or months to be achieved. Other goals can be targeted for conclusion after the sessions has come to an end. The approach of Cognitive behavioral therapy is educational. The therapist uses planned learning skills which will teach a client on how to examine and put down their depressing thoughts and psychological images (Beck 1979). Their goal is to identify how thoughts affect their behavior, physical condition and mood. They also teach coping skills which helps in solving problems and setting up agreeable experiences to cope with the current situation. Patients of Cognitive behavioral therapy are anticipated to take an active role in their education when the session is going on. They are given coursework in every session of learning; some of assignment are graded in the beginning and may be reviewed at the beginning of the every next session. Cognitive behavioral therapy uses several strategies which include guided discovery, Socratic questioning, imagery, behavioral experiments and role playing, these helps in enabling that patients participate and understand well (Judith and Michael 2007). And in the other end, therapist can check if their clients have understood what they are taught. The Cognitive behavioral therapy normally last for 14 to 16 weeks. Cognitive therapy deal with several issues which affect people with depression hence physicians must be familiar their nature and uses. A depressed person may lack energy and have fewer ideas hence decision making will become slow or impossible. If depression last longer, it might cause serious damage or illness to an individual hence early treatment are preferred (Judith and Michael 2007). Some of depressed people may start engaging themselves in alcohol and other drugs. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps these people to change their pattern of thinking and how to overcome the situation they are facing. Cognitive behavioral therapy provides the clinician with a wide range of methods to assist the patient to address his or her present problems which enables a prearranged consultation and is particularly useful in enabling patients to practice these solutions between therapy sessions (Williams and Garland 2002). It is one of the fastest methods which can change various unwanted emotions and behavioral patterns by changing individual thoughts. Some of emotions, behaviors or thoughts may change a self reinforcing cycles which brings unnecessary emotions into the life of a person. For example, if an individual thought he or she is a loser then he will approach other people in a different way he would have approached them if he didn’t have such a belief initial (Williams and Garland 2002). To overcome depression, an individual has to understand why he or she is depressed; there are several possible reasons which make one to be depressed, some are caused by improper diet, physical problems, not having enough sleep and lack of exercise (Borkovec and Costello 1993). When some one is feeling depressed he should make sure that he takes care of his or her body to prevent it from becoming chronic or severe. Illnesses or the medication of an illness may cause depression therefore it is good to see a doctor to avoid depression. A doctor should be consulted before a patient stop or change medication which has been diagnosed. Wrong thinking cause depression, individual might think that he is not good or thinks that he cannot do anything right. This negative thinking can make some one to be depressed without a relevant reason, to overcome this, a person should avoid thinking negatively and start think positively instead (Anne, George, and Jeffrey 1986). Losses also cause depression if an individual losses something he value a lot in his or her life he or she will be depressed. For example, if someone who is closely related died, it will cause an individual to be depressed. To overcome this depression, a person need to accept the situation and tries to move on with life since he or she will not change the situation which has occurred (Anne, George, and Jeffrey 1986). Cognitive behavioral therapy dealt with all these cause of depressions. Research has shown that no specific event is thought to be the cause of depression but events which are stressful may trigger or worsen depression. Cognitive behavioral therapy is high while the access of the services of psychotherapy frequently limited. In the research it shows that it is not easy to find and solve the original causes of depression rapidly. We found out in our research that it is more effective treatment for depression disorders. It is not possible for any one to live in depresses free life but people should try to overcome depressions and their effects in one life. Therefore people should not try to overcome any depressions which affect them in day to day life. Cognitive behavior therapy has been very successful in treating the patients with depressions due to evidence based that supports its use. This has made this type of treatment has been increasing in range including group cognitive behavioral therapy, CBT- based self help and CBT – informed specific interventions. Conclusion In conclusion, we have seen that cognitive behavioral therapy help people in over coming depressions which affect them in day to day. Depression may be caused by different things and affect individuals differently. Research shows that a patient should agree that perceptions and interpretations of reality may not be true because of some factors such as past experience, hereditary or biological factors (Anne, George, and Jeffrey 1986). The clients should learn to identify thoughts which give them depression and find alternative thought which reflect the truth. We have seen also that individual decide for him or herself whether the evidence supports those thought which are negative or the alternative thought. The research shows that very small percentage of the people with depression receives sufficient treatment for the disorder (David, Jack, and Katherine S 2000). In future, adequate therapy should be ensured for all those who are suffering with any disorder. Some of it may not respond to the therapy, other may have outstanding symptoms or often relapse and some may choose non pharmacologic therapy over cognitive behavioral therapy (David, Jack, and Katherine S 2000). Cognitive behavioral therapy may be very helpful to some of the individuals who have depression and on the other hand, it might not be helpful to some patients. Works cited Anne D. S, George E. M, Jeffrey. L, Richard D. W. Cognitive Therapy and Pharmacotherapy for Depression: Sustained Improvement Over One Year. General psychiatry. 1986, V. 43(1) Aaron T. B. Cognitive Therapy of Depression: The Guilford Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Series. New York: Guilford Press, 1979 Andrew C. B, Jason E. C, Evan M. F, and Beck A. T. The empirical status of cognitive- behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Clinical Psychology Review, 2006, V.26 p.17–31 Aaron T. B. Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Basics and Beyond. New York: Guilford Press, 2011 Beck A, AJShaw B. G. Cognitive Therapy of Depression. New York,Guilford Press, 1979 Borkovec, T. D and Costello, E. Efficacy of applied relaxation and cognitive-behavioral therapy in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 61(4), 1993, p.611-619 Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, improving the lives of people with mental illness. 2012 Accessed on 12/23/12 from http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/expertadvice/treatments/cbt.aspx David H. B, Jack M. G, Katherine S, Scott W. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Imipramine, or Their Combination for Panic Disorder. The journal of the American medical association. 2000, Vol. 283(19) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression. Depression Health Center. 2012. Accessed on 12/23/12 from http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/cognitive-behavioral-therapy-for-depression Clark D M, Salkovskis P M, Hackmann A, Middleton H, Anastasiades P and Gelder M. A. Comparison of cognitive therapy, applied relaxation and imipramine in the treatment of panic disorder. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 1994, v.164, p.759-769 Judith S. B and Michael A. T. Handbook of Homework Assignments in Psychotherapy. 2007, p.51-63 Rothbaum, B et al. Effective treatments for PTSD: Practice guidelines from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. 2007, New York: Guilford Press. Cherry, K. What Is Cognitive Behavior Therapy? About.com psychology. 2012. Accessed on 12/23/12 from http://psychology.about.com/od/psychotherapy/a/cbt.htm Overcoming Anhedonia/Depression with CBT? 2012. Accessed on 12/23/12 from http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/forum/f43/overcoming-anhedonia-depression-with-cbt-126152/ Self-help therapies. Stress, anxiety and depression. 2012. Accessed on 12/23/12 from http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/Pages/self-help-therapies.aspx Williams C and Garland, A. A cognitive–behavioural therapy assessment model for use in everyday clinical practice. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 2002, Accessed on 12/23/12 from http://apt.rcpsych.org/content/8/3/172.full Wright. B, Williams. C and Garland, A. Using the Five Areas cognitive–behavioural therapy model with psychiatric patients. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 2002 Falk l, Wolfgang, H, Michael. W, and Eric. L. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: Techniques, Efficacy, and Indication. CBT&PsychodynamicPsychotherapy. https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:f11gHN0nnwEJ:klinische-psychologie-mainz.de/abteilung/downloads/leichsenring_06.pdf+&hl=en&gl=ke&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgdxOtELj-iWVGKmuNSrb_cNbvlefn2D9yEe5O8CDLb_Z8pWBI281VxWDsz2-FAqt5IcyErplbKgF4ezpdOL0LSmEL_X24WlSBpFJxy-nKnzrUKiHiHr8catC2B-MVTDStpUXsW&sig=AHIEtbTtPKnYHaGeCcrwhFAfs1BsUQ_JsQ Read More