depression cognitive treatment

• Beck’s cognitive therapy:

  The client  identifies negative automatic thoughts about the world, future and self. When they have been identified they client and therapist identify the clients goals collectively and then come up with a plan on how the client will achieve those goals. If the client still has negative automatic thoughts then the therapist will set homework for the client which is that the client has to write down all of their positive experiences in life. The homework will then be used to prove to the client that their thoughts are incorrect.
• Ellis’s rational emotive behaviour therapy:

  REBT is rational emotional behavioural therapy. The therapist and client will then identify their irrational thoughts. The therapist and client will then have a vigorous argument about the irrational beliefs. They will be empirically and logically disputed.  They will dispute them empirically by looking at the physical evidence. They will also dispute them logically to see if it makes sense logically. 
• Behavioural activation:

  Individuals become depressed and they have an increased avoidance of difficult situations so they become isolated, maintaining and worsening the symptoms. The goal of treatment is to decrease the avoidance and isolation, and to increase the engagement in activities that will improve their mood. Therapists will then aim to reinforce that positive behaviour.
• strength is that there is large amounts of evidence for how CBT is an effective treatment for depression. John March 2007 compared the effectiveness of CBT to antidepressants and they both combined. The effectiveness of CBT alone is 81%, and the same for antidepressant drugs.  But they both combined have an effectiveness of 86%. This shows that CBT alone is just as effective when used on its own but even more effective when combined with antidepressants. CBT is brief around 6-12 sessions and cost-effective. This means that CBT is widely seen as a first choice treatment esp
• limitation is the lack of effectiveness for severe cases and people with learning disabilities. In some cases it can be so severe that the clients have no motivation to engage and are unable to pay attention to what is happening within their CBT sessions. The cognitive work can also be too hard for them making it inaccessible to people with learning disabilities as they may find it difficult to express their feelings. Peter Sturmey 2005 suggests any form of psychotherapy is not suitable for people with learning difficulties.
• Even though, it has been shown to be unsuitable for people with severe depression and learning difficulties. Gemma and Glyn Lewis 2016 concluded CBT is just as effective as antidepressant drugs and behavioural therapies for severe depression. John Taylor 2008 suggested that when CBT is used appropriately it can be effective for people with learning disabilities. This means that it may be suitable for a wider range of people than originally assumed.
•  limitation is that it has extremely high relapse rates. Although it is really effective for battling symptoms of depression, there have been some concerns of the long term effectiveness. Shezhad Ali 2017 assessed 439 clients every month for 12 months following a course of CBT. 42% relapsed after 6 months, and 53% relapsed after 1 year. This suggests that this form of treatment may need to be repeated periodically.