Cognitive treatment

• Cognitive behaviour therapy

  Most common treatment for depression and other mental health issues

  That idea is to identify automatic thoughts about the world, the self and the future once identified, these thoughts must be challenged

  Behavioural activation- list of activities client previously enjoyed and what’s stopping them from enjoying them now.

  Graded task assignment- client engages in progressively more demanding activities

  Thought catching- taught to notice negative thoughts and replace with realistic ones
• rational emotive behaviour therapy

  An extension of Ellis ABC model

  D - dispute

  E - effect

  The main technique is to identify and dispute irrational thoughts

  rebt aims to interrupt the irrational belief after a negative event and make it rational for a healthier response
• a strength is the large body of supporting evidence

  Many studies show that CBT works

  A study that compared CBT to antidepressant drugs when treating 327 depressed adolescence showed that after 36 weeks, 81% of the CBT group and 81% of the antidepressants group had significantly improved so CBT was just as effective as antidepressants

  it’s also cost-effective as it’s a fairly brief therapy requiring 6 to 12 weeks

  This means that CBT is widely seen as the first choice of treatment in public healthcare systems
• One limitation for CBT is the lack of effectiveness for severe cases and clients with learning disabilities

  In some cases, depression can be so severe that clients cannot motivate themselves to engage with the cognitive work of CBT

  The complex rational thinking involved in CBT makes it unsuitable for treating depression clients with learning disabilities

  This suggests that CBT may only be appropriate for a specific range of people with depression
• A further limitation is relapse rates

  Although CBT is effective in tackling the symptoms of depression, there are questions of how long the benefits last

  Very few early studies have looked at CBT long term effectiveness

  more recent studies suggest that the long-term outcomes are not as good as what had been assumed

  Study assessed depression in 439 clients every month for 12 months following a course of CBT, 42% of the clients relapse into depression within six months of ending treatment and 53% relapsed within a year

  this suggests that CBT may need to be repeated periodically
• Client preference

  Some clients will just want their symptoms gone as quickly and easily as possible and will prefer medication. They may also not have time to commit to CBT treatment