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Counseling Resources
For Personal & Spiritual Growth
PSYCHOTHERAPIES
There are
many forms of psychotherapy effectively used to help depressed individuals,
including some short term (10-20 weeks) therapies. "Talking" therapies
help patients gain insight into and resolve their problems through verbal
"give-and-take" with the therapist. "Behavioral" therapists
help patients learn how to obtain more satisfaction and rewards through their
own actions and how to unlearn the behavioral patterns that contribute to their
depression.
Two of the
short term psychotherapies that research has shown helpful for some forms of
depression are Interpersonal and Cognitive/Behavioral therapies. Interpersonal
therapists focus on the patient's disturbed personal relationships that both
cause and exacerbate the depression. Cognitive/behavioral therapists help
patients change the negative styles of thinking and behaving often associated
with depression.
Psychodynamic
therapies, sometimes used to treat depression, focus on resolving the patient's
internal psychological conflicts that are typically thought to be rooted in
childhood.
In general,
the severe depressive illnesses, particularly those that are recurrent, will
require medication along with psychotherapy
for the best outcome.
Report
provided by the National Institute of Mental Health