Depression treatment has been demonstrated to benefit greatly with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). In CBT, both you and your therapist collaborate to identify problematic behavioral patterns. The objective is to re-calibrate the area of your brain that is so tightly controlling positive ideas.
Depression could have its origins in an unanticipated response to a significant life event and is often directly connected to struggles with drugs and alcohol. You and your therapist can confront it through CBT and work to put things in perspective.
New habits can be strengthened with regular CBT sessions as well as tasks you perform on yourself outside of therapy. It can be liberating to identify those negative ideas and cast them aside.
Central Ideas in CBT
The foundation of CBT is the notion that your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are intertwined. In other words, what you do might be influenced by how you feel and think about something.
For instance, you can see things differently and make decisions you wouldn’t usually make if you’re under a lot of stress at work. The ability to alter these thoughts and behavior patterns is another crucial CBT idea.
The American Psychological Association lists the following as the central ideas of CBT:
- Unhelpful habits of thinking are partly to blame for psychological problems.
- Psychological disorders are largely based on learned patterns of behavior, and people who have them can get well by learning better coping skills and managing their symptoms.
Five CBT Techniques to Combat Depression’s Negative Thoughts
Self-education rarely yields positive results in depressed individuals. It is advised that people commit to CBT for at least six weeks for this reason. Your therapist will teach you CBT techniques that can help you combat the negative thoughts that go along with depression. They can also assist you in maintaining your practice of the skills.
Here are five CBT techniques that you can end up using with your therapist are as follows:
Identify the issue, then come up with solutions. You can learn more about the cause of your depression by keeping a journal and speaking with your therapist. Once you have a thought, write it down and consider solutions. Hopelessness, or the conviction that nothing will ever get better, is a defining characteristic of depression. Making a list of actions you can take to make a situation better might help lift your spirits.- Make statements about yourself to combat negative thinking. For every unfavorable notion, create a positive self-statement to oppose it. When you notice the small voice in your head trying to squelch a good notion, recall your self-statements and say them aloud to yourself. You’ll eventually establish new associations and swap out your negative thoughts for pleasant ones.
- Look for opportunities to think kindly of others and your surroundings. People who walk into a room and think, “I hate that wall color” might train themselves to find five items in the room as quickly as possible that they like. You can even program your phone to remind you to think positively three times every day or partner up with a friend who is also looking to become more optimistic.
- End each day by reflecting on its highlights. Write down or put into a digital notebook the things in your life you’re most grateful for at the end of each day. Making good mental notes, and even posting such notes online, can assist you in building new mental associations or neural pathways. Someone who has developed a new thought process might switch from thinking, “Ugh, another workday,” to “What a beautiful day today is.”
- Recognize disappointment as a necessary component of life. Life may occasionally provide disappointing circumstances, and how you handle them will influence the speed at which you can move on. Work on what you can control. Avoid unduly pessimistic ideas and jot down what occurred, what you learned from the situation, and what you can do differently the next time. You may be able to continue on and be more optimistic about the future as a result.
Conclusion
If you’re seeking therapy that focuses more on the problems you’re currently facing than those from the past, CBT can be a good option for you. You must take an active role in the therapy because it is just temporary. You can determine your therapy objectives and whether CBT or one of its subtypes is the best approach for you by consulting with a therapist.
If you have any questions or are curious about CBT and if it can work for you or someone you love, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our friendly and professional staff at Aquila Recovery Clinic today.