CBT

• CBT


  An umbrella term for a number of therapies used to treat depression, the two best known being Beck's cognitive behavioural therapy and Ellis's Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy (REBT)
• Central idea of CBT and REBT


  To identify, challenge, and modify the sufferer's negative thoughts (e.g. 'I am unlovable') and cognitive biases (e.g. catastrophising 'no one will ever love me') to alleviate depression
• Aim of CBT


  To alter dysfunctional behaviours that may be contributing to depression by helping people to establish links between their thoughts, feelings, actions and their symptoms
• Strategies used within CBT for people with depression


  • Thought Catching
  • Cognitive Restructuring
  • Behavioural Activation
• Thought Catching


  Identifying negative thoughts. Depressed individuals are taught to see the link between their thoughts and how they feel. They might, as part of their homework assignments, be asked to record any emotion-arousing situations in which automatic negative thinking occurs so these can be targeted in therapy.
• Cognitive Restructuring


  The therapist helping the client to challenge their negative and irrational thoughts and replace them with more positive and rational ways of thinking, alleviating the depressive symptoms. To help with cognitive restructuring patients are often set homework assignments encouraging them to act like a scientist, testing the reality of their irrational beliefs to help put new rational beliefs into practice.
• Behavioural Activation


  A characteristic of many depressed people is that they no longer participate in activities that they previously enjoyed. During CBT (and REBT), the client and therapist identify potentially pleasurable activities and to overcome any obstacles in carrying them out. They may be given graded homework assignments, which allow them to experiment with the chosen activity to engage in progressively in more rewarding activities.
• The basic assumption of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is that people with depression often have faulty and irrational thought processes and perceptions, which influence their feelings and behaviours in maladaptive ways
• Negative triad


  An intrusive cycle of depressive thoughts, leading to depressed mood and a change in activity