Cognitive treatment of depression

Every year, about fifteen percent of people, whose age ranges from 18 to 74, you can see a decrease in mood, reluctance to communicate, sleep disturbance, apathy and anxiety. With depression, 75% of all visits to psychiatric and psychotherapeutic medical institutions can be associated.

There are two ways to treat depression, which have proven themselves - this therapy is medicamental and psychotherapy. A greater effect can be obtained by combining these methods. Using only medicinal substances, as controlled studies of depressive pharmacotherapy say, it is possible to achieve marked improvement only in only 60 percent of cases. And the remaining 40 percent of patients with depression should use different psychotherapeutic methods?

To achieve precisely expressed improvements, it is necessary to take antidepressants for a long time and at very high dosages. Although there is relative safety in modern drugs, I want to reduce their intake in terms of duration and doses to a minimum, and this reduces to minimal side effects - this concerns drowsiness, lethargy, kidney and stomach damage, and much more.

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The optimal option for treating depression is to combine antidepressant medication and psychotherapy( cognitive psychotherapy).In this case, the condition improves very noticeably, and the main thing is getting a lasting effect from the treatment, because thanks to the psychotherapy, a person will receive powerful weapons, i.e. At sessions of psychotherapy, he is trained to control his own negative emotions, to recognize the approach of depression, to take necessary measures and even to prevent the return of the disease. As the data of reliable sources say, in these cases the percentage of perseverance of cure reaches almost 99 percent.

Better any other methods of depression, anxiety, phobia, panic attacks treated with cognitive psychotherapy. In the cognitive approach, or rather, based on it, lies this statement - the behavior and emotions of a person can be determined by his assessment of the world. It must be understood that a person in the depths of the subconscious has such a conviction - the world is very unfriendly, and hence his behavior will be appropriate. But how else can a person feel, knowing in advance that they are hostile to him?

However, not everyone recognizes such beliefs. But it is this or something like this that develops anxiety and depression. Identify these basic settings and make them correct, develop a new way of thinking - this is a problem successfully solved by the therapist and the patient at joint sessions.

The first sessions are aimed at explaining the relationship between the patient's thoughts, his emotions and behavior, based on examples of his personal experience. Then learn to recognize, track and fix his negative thoughts with a special diary, which records automatic thoughts. Then, together with the therapist, they write down these thoughts, analyze them and identify the irrational ones, i.e. Illogical and wrong. Specialists-technicians work with automatic thoughts and reveal the basis of beliefs-an example of a basic belief is shown in the article-the unfriendliness of the world. The next step is to correct the beliefs that are irrational and at the same time basic. Develop a new, adequate and realistic thinking.

During this work, the entire responsibility for this condition is transferred in stages to the patient himself. Going to the end of therapy, the patient already plays the role of the psychotherapist, but already in relation to himself. He independently questions his forecasts and conclusions, independently conducts their correction, and is already quite skillful.

Cognitive therapy, or rather, a course, usually includes 15 to 25 sessions with two breaks per week( at the initial stage).One time they rest at subsequent sessions. At the last stage of the meeting can be held once a half a month. After completing the course, the patient undergoes a booster therapy, i.e. Visits the therapist only when necessary - three, sometimes four times a year, to track the condition and get further clarifications and homework.