Cognitive behavioural therapy 'can reduce depression'

[xchrom]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20625639

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can reduce symptoms of depression in people who fail to respond to drug treatment, says a study in the Lancet.

CBT, a type of psychotherapy, was found to benefit nearly half of the 234 patients who received it combined with normal care from their GP.

Up to two-thirds of people with depression do not respond to anti-depressants.

Patients should have access to a range of treatments, the charity Mind said.

[kickysnana]

1. "Patients should have access to a range of treatment"

However, having been there and done that most of the time current Cognitive therapy is a waste of time waiting for your brain to reset which it almost always does eventually, weeks, months or years later.

However sending people home, alone, with a bottle of pills that make them feel even worse and maybe better eventually is a very, very bad idea.

System is broken.

One of the problem with therapy is that some of the depression is caused because the person is not feeling heard or believed. Current therapy does not even try to consider if the person who is sitting before them is telling any truth so the only thing the therapist can do is assume they are lying so as not to be "duped" Then they either do the "Well what do you think?" game or give false assurances and bromides which only makes the depression worse and the depressed person further alienated. How can you help me if you don't believe me?

As for "what do I think?", if I were thinking clearly I would not be sitting here. My life is unmanageable and everything I have tried has failed. A little help here please.

Advice columnists everywhere tell people not to "be there" for family and friends who are struggling because a therapist is the only one who can help. Therapists usually don't help. Medicine often doesn't help. Even when you do recover your life is in shambles and if you do that often enough one may feel there is no sense doing the almost impossible work of trying to be 'normal' again if it is just going to keep happening anyway.

Trust me, nobody wants to have depression or any mental illness. There is no up side or silver lining here.

Luckily almost all Belgians are depressed so families have thousands of years of coping mechanisms which I learned by age 4 but the Norwegian side of the family had the best support mechanisms so I guess I was double blessed and am still here writing this.

Rant off.

[xchrom]

2. Yes. My reactions to both drugs or therapy

Have been very mixed.

Both seem to work for a while - so now what's interesting to me - is why do they stop working?

[haikugal]

6. Very good rant...

I've been there myself. I was wondering if you'd relate some of the good coping mechanisms you've learned from your families? I'd like to hear them.

[Nikia]

7. CBT is different because it helps you learn to think and live

I had group anxiety CBT so it might be a little different than individual CBT, but talking about your past hardships are not a big part of it. They did not repeatedly ask "what do you think?" they corrected us if we were clearly thinking about it in the wrong direction.
For example, people with anxiety and depression both tend to catastrophize. While they realize that you really think that something pretty horrible will happen in a particular circumstances, they tell you that it probably won't so you are better off not dwelling on it. Since it was a group setting, we only had time to go over one situation that caused us anxiety. I found that other people had some of the same issues though. The problems were supposed to be specific and experienced during the week. Other people helped us solve our problem, but the therapists got us back on track if someone suggested something maladaptive. I found it helpful, but maybe some people with severe depression are not as responsive to it.

[hrmjustin]

4. Welcome to DU and I hope you enjoy the site.

[Warpy]

5. It's also labor intensive

so don't wait for it to become a first line therapy even after study after study has shown it's at least as good as pills and possibly better.