Individual Approach

I do not like that people can take antidepressants and CBT can be effective in treating major depression. I believe with the help of a therapist, there is no need to put any medication in the body. There are so many application of CBT such as bipolar disorder, anxiety,

Individual therapy is what most think of as laying on a couch and talking to a counselor as they doodle pictures and let the client come to their own conclusions. In a way this

CBT also fails to recognise the impact of situations or experiences that are out of the control of the individual and places total responsibility on the individual. Further, research has shown that although CBT is superior in treating anxiety and depression it does so only by reducing/eliminating symptoms and does little to increase well-being, however with a renewed emphasis incorporating symptom reduction and increased quality of life this appears to be changing (Oei & McAlinden,

Research has shown that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can be as successful as medicine in treating many types of depression and other mental health disorders it can be completed in a relatively short time compared with other talking therapies and because it is highly structured, CBT can be provided in a number of different formats such as through computer programs, groups and self-help books. Some research suggests that CBT may be better than antidepressants at preventing the return of depression. It is thought to be one of the most effective treatments for anxiety and depression.

Thus far, I have learned about the pros and cons to using medication in treatment with clients. In addition, I have seen first hand the benefits of implementing medications in client’s treatment plan. From my understanding, Depression is one of the most prevalent illnesses in the world. Because of this fact it is important that we understand and explore all the implications surrounding the use and efficacy for treatment. In order to treat our clients with the best care possible, we as therapist should be educated on the types of medications for depression, the impact they have on the body, and their efficacy of improving symptoms and overall functioning. In this paper I will explore three articles about antidepressants and their efficacy for treating clients with depression. In addition, I will provide my overall reaction to the studies and the material provided for the efficacy of antidepressants for treating depression.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is recommended by the NICE guidelines as an effective treatment for many mental health problems, specifically depression and all of the anxiety disorders.

The eight women were compared to ten other demographically matched women in the standard CBT treatment group (control) that had previously completed CBT treatment. Both group CBT interventions met once a week for sixteen weeks. Each session lasted 90 minutes, and had weekly homework assignments. The control group had rolling admissions, whereas the AACBT was a closed group. The AACBT consisted of changes to the CBT structure and content. Details of the changes are listed in Table 5 and Table 6. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was administered before and after treatment. Effect sizes were not reported in the study’s results. Before treatment, both the AACBT and control group participants’ BDI scores suggested severe depression. At post-treatment, participants in both groups improved as indicated by a decrease in BDI scores. The average BDI score decreased by -12.6 points for the AACBT group, and by -5.9 for the control group. The women in the AACBT group portrayed a larger decrease (-6.7) in pre- and post-BDI scores as compared to the control group. However, overall both groups’ BDI scores indicated a decrease from severe (32.3) to moderate (23.1)

CBT is defined as a form of mental health based counseling, focusing on errors of cognition and perception. It usually involves a limited number of individual outpatient sessions (Park et al., 2013). This form of therapy, “helps you become aware of inaccurate or negative thinking, so you can view challenging situations more clearly and respond to them in a more effective way,” (“Cognitive behavioral therapy”, 2014, para. 1).

Treatments using anti-depressants is well documented, but there are very few studies documenting only the use of psychotherapy. However, in one study done using the Cognitive–behavioral analysis system of psychotherapy (CBASP) as a maintenance treatment, the overall findings show that psychotherapy in itself can be successful. “ There were 82 patients who were treated with CBASP long term. Patients were chosen at random to reduce their treatment to monthly or to an observational status. The patients, only treated monthly with CBASP, showed a smaller amount of reoccurring symptoms then the patients in the observational status. These findings support the use of only CBASP as a maintenance treatment for depression.” (Klein, 2004)

A probable reason why CBT works with depressed patients is that depression interacts with both cognitive and motivational processes. This is well evidenced in experimental analogue research with healthy and depressed individuals. Individuals with depression show deficits on a range of cognitive tests (Brown, Scott, Bench, 1994) with the pattern of dysfunction having many of the characteristics associated with fronto-subcortical impairment. Reischies and Neu (2000) found that depressed individuals displayed mild cognitive impairments in comparison with matched controls, particularly in the areas of "adverbial" memory, psychomotor speed and verbal fluency. Further in these patients there appears to be considerable variation in the recovery of cognitive function with remission of the depressive episode.

According to the book, CBT has four phases of treatment, which are increasing pleasurable activities, challenging automatic thoughts, identifying negative thoughts, and changing thoughts. For the first phase, clinicians will encourage the patient to identify and engage in activities, such as taking walks, which are enjoyable to their patient. For the second phase, the clinician will teach their patient about what negative thoughts can do to them and how the patient can challenge those negative thoughts. For the third phase, once the client is able to identify the negative thoughts, the clinician can help the patient identify how the negative thoughts are causing depressive symptoms to occur. For the fourth phase, the clinician will help their patient to challenge the negative thoughts and replace them with positive

Major depressive disorder affects nearly 15 million of American adults in a given year. (Kessler, Chiu, Demler & Walters, 2005). With the impact it has on the society as well as the well-being of the individual, it must be in the interest of the healthcare to be able to provide patients with the most effective treatment method. Extensive research has been conducted on the efficacy of antidepressant medication and cognitive therapy, the two main treatment methods used for depression today. The discussion has, however, been characterized by conflicting claims, resulting in a debate over what should be used rather than us having definite conclusion of how patients are best helped.

CBT is a structured psychological treatment which identifies that cognition, emotion and behaviour all interact together. Therefore, it can be said that our thoughts determine our feelings and our response. A negative impact of the actions taken by someone when that person suffers from psychological distress caused by how skewed they interpret situations. CBT involves working with a therapist to distinguish thought and behavioural patterns that are either making a client more likely to become depressed, or stopping a client from getting better when experiencing depression. The purpose of CBT is to increase the client’s awareness when negative interpretations are made and when behavioural patterns reinforce distorted thinking. Cognitive therapy helps people to develop alternative ways of thinking and behaving which aim to reduce their psychological

CBT has shown to be as useful as antidepressant medication for individuals with depression and is superior in preventing relapse. Clients receiving CBT for all depression disorders are encouraged to schedule activities in order to increase the amount of pleasure they experience. In addition, depressed patients learn how to restructure negative thought patterns in order to interpret their environment in a less biased way. CBT for Bipolar Disorder and the high-risk depressed client is used as an adjunct to medication treatment and focuses on psychoeducation about the disorder and understanding cues and triggers for relapse. The client will have more reason to gain more confidence in them. Studies indicate