Cognitive behavioral therapy is a psychotherapy treatment that produces a correctional mechanism in a short amount of time. This type of treatment is always goal-oriented, as it primarily tries to change the behaviors of those who are having difficulty dealing with events. It may also seek to alter an individual's perception of a specific source of fear. This type of therapy is time-limited and always requires the client/full patient's participation. A client is guided through the process of identifying his or her fear and spending some time eliminating the circumstance, whether it is phobia or a specific mental disease. This kind of therapy majorly takes the form of systematic desensitization where the patient will undergo a behavior change with guidance from the therapist. The goal of cognitive behavior therapy is to teach patients how to deal with matters of the environment that surround them. This will change how they interpret some aspects of the environment that they find affecting them. These assignments will discuss the importance of cognitive behavioral therapy in treating depression as a mental health disorder.
Cognitive behavioral therapy has found a wide application in the fuel of mental health and in dealing with phobias. This kind of treatment is preferred by mental health consumers majorly because it's short term and cheap in cost as compared to other type of therapies.
Depression
Depression is a mental disorder that causes an individual to be sad all the time and characterized by loss of interest. These disorders affects how an individual thinks, behaves and even the feelings. Depression can therefore lead to physical and emotional problems associated with somebody. The good news is that there is a range of treatments available for depression one of them being cognitive behavioral therapy. Depression symptoms can range from mild, moderate to severe. A few signs and symptoms include; A feeling of sadness, change in appetite and eating habits, loss of interest in a particular object, sleeping disorders where some sleep too much while others lack sleep, feeling of guilt, lack of concentration in a particular activity and also thinking of committing suicide (Pedsky and Greenberger, 1995)
There are many types of depression that include seasonal affective disorder, dysthymic disorder and major defective disorder. This assignment will talk about treatment of all types of depression.
Treatment of depression using cognitive behavioral therapy
Living with a mental health disorders such as depression can make it very difficult to look for people's help. It is therefore important to look for professional support when an individual can't talk about it to friends and family. This kind of therapy is more of talking to the patient. It will majorly help the individual to manage and recognize how their thoughts can affect their behavior and feelings (Castonguay, 2015). This kind of therapy aims at solving specific problem because it's practical based and can also be applied in solving health problems that take long time such as chronic health problems. Though the treatment can not cure physical ailments, it will help the patient to reduce the stress level and to cope with the problem emotionally.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is provided on one to one basis for the patient. The approach is practical and involve the participation of both the therapist and the patient. The session between the patient (depressed) and the therapist will be collaborative as it will involve cooperation of both the parties (Goldin et al. 2015). The discussions between the participants will be treated with confidentiality as no judgments should arise. The course of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can be between 6 weeks to several months depending on nature and depression circumstances. A session can be scheduled to last for 50 minutes or 1 hour with each session a week. At the beginning, an individual will meet a therapist can as well give the assignments to be done at home.
Session Content
1 Patient meets therapist and they discuss the problem.
Patient will state his problem to therapist.
2 Depression broken into its component parts such as physical feelings, actions and thoughts.
3 Thoughts
4 Physical feelings and actions that result from depression
5 Planning for treatment of depression
6 Bringing the sessions to the end. Assessment can be done to see if the treatment was effective.
Detailed description of each session.
This will go deep in the activities of each session.
Session 1. Content- Therapist meets the patient Approximate time taken.
Introduction. The patient will meet therapist and have a discussion of the problem and how to solve it. 10 minutes
Referencing. - Done at the end of the assignment 0 minutes
Textbook.
Cognitive behavioral therapy for severe illness 5 minutes
Adequate description. We will talk about what causes depression and suggest ways of dealing with it. 15 minutes
Disorder- disorder being discussed is depression.
It's side effects can as well be stated 10 minutes
Session 2 Content- depression is broken down to its parts Approximate time taken
Depression is split into parts that contain thoughts, physical feelings and actions. 15 minutes.
Reference - Done at the end of the assignment 0 minutes
Textbook.
Cognitive behavioral therapy for severe illness 5 minutes
We will list the characteristics of component parts of depression that include actions, physical feelings and thoughts associated with depression. 10 minutes.
The disorder that we are dealing with is depression. 10 minutes
Session 3 Content - thoughts Approximate times taken
We will define what depression thoughts are and how they come about. 10 minutes
Reference - At the end of the assignment. 0 minutes
Textbook
Cognitive behavioral therapy for severe illness
Cognitive behavioral therapy for severe illness 5 minutes
Thought of the individual need to be examined for changed if signs of depression are shown 15 minutes
The disorder of discussion is depression 10 minutes
Session 4 Content. Physical feelings and actions Approximate time taken
Listing of physical feelings and actions associated with depression. 15 minutes
References - Done at the end of assignment 0 minutes
Textbook
Cognitive behavioral therapy for severe illness 5 minutes
Patients will be encouraged to react positively following their thoughts 10 minutes
The disorder of discussion is depression 10 minutes
Session 5 Content. Planning for treatment Approximate time taken.
In this session, home worksheets will be given to the individual. These assignments can be done at home in attempts to decrease depression. 15 minutes
Reference 0 minutes
Textbook
Cognitive behavioral therapy for severe illness 5 minutes.
Worksheets of the patient are reviewed 10 minutes
Depression is the subject of discussion. 10 minutes
Session 6 Content - Ending CBT sessions Approximate time taken
This is the sessions where treatment comes to an end after thoughts, feelings and actions reviewed. 10 minutes
Reference - Done at the end of assignment. 0
Textbook
Cognitive behavioral therapy for severe illness 5 minutes
The cbt sessions closed and the patient can be observed for depression. Results of the worksheet can be checked. 10 minutes
The disorder of discussion is still depression 10 minutes
Justification
Empirical basis of cognitive behavioral therapy states that patients deserve the best treatments, those regarded as having empirical support and CBT is one of them. Research on the effectiveness of CBT can be summarized with numerous studies that can be surveyed, added together and the effect sizes derived ( Robert 2011)
Moreover, cognitive behavioral treatments outcomes have been confirmed useful and effective in treating anxiety among the adolescents. This can be done by developing resourceful positive talks with the patients that may come through counseling.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has also been confirmed to deal with serious problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder, major defensive depression, eating disorders, specific phobias and distress related to marriage.
Depression not only affects the patient but it also does to bring other effects to the economy.
CBT is also one of the effective therapies used in stress management. This can help individuals with depression manifested by stress. This can be achieved through a very short period not exceeding six months.
CBT is one of the treatments that is considered effective for depression that is moderate and severe in nature. It also plays the same role as effective antidepressants used to treat depression.
The importance of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is that it is going to lower the symptoms of depression in the patient. Several studies have shown that CBT helps in reducing depression. There is existence of empirical information. The sessions that the patient will engage in will lower symptoms such as anger, improve motivation and hope.
These sessions are likely to bring new changes to the patient as it will change the thoughts of the patient (Brady 2015).
These sessions are able to change the individual's behavior by impacting positive thoughts as a means of doing away with depression. Once the patient is able to think positively, this means that the goals of the CBT are being achieved
Conclusion
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has been used and successful in treating depression. Besides, it's also used in treatment of other mental health disorders such as anxiety and eating disorders. It is therefore important to recognize CBT as one effective way of treating nonphysical chronic illnesses.
References
Brady F (2015). Behavior research and Therapy.
Castonguay L. G (2015) Journal of consulting-psycnet.apa.org
Craighead, E. (2011). Behavioral Activation for Depressed Teens: A Pilot Study.
David (2009). "Cognitive-behavioral Therapy in Severe Mental Illness" .
Psychiatric Times .
Goldin, P. De Castella, K and Jazaieri, H. (2015) Behaviour
therapy , 2015 - Taylor & Francis
Padesky and Greenberger (1995)Mind over mood.
Robert L. (2011). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Proven effectiveness.
Journal of Cognitive Therapy and Research (2012)
