Non-Medication Treatments For Depression

Non-Medication Treatments For Depression

ONLY TWO PARTICULAR TYPES OF TALKING THERAPY (psychotherapy) have been convincingly shown to be effective in the treatment of depression.  While the world is full of many well meaning and intensely applied therapies, scientific research so far has only shown the following two therapies to be more effective than the simple passage of time, with or without general emotional support.

COGNITIVE THERAPY

This is the best known of the talking therapies shown to be effective in depressive illness, particularly in depressive illness which is mild or moderate in severity.  The theory behind cognitive therapy is that depression is caused by the individual reading negatives into every aspect of their interactions with the world.  The patient becomes convinced that everything is, was and always will be negative and takes the worst possible interpretation, to a magnified extent, out of simple daily problems. 

Therapy in Cognitive Therapy consists of relentlessly focusing the patient’s logic onto the events of daily life.  The patient is asked to keep a rating scale of their mood on a daily basis, often a number of times per day, so they can see they are not continuously in the total depths of depression.  They are asked to rate various events in their day, to show that in fact they do get some positives out of these events.  They are asked particularly to examine their own thinking processes when they react negatively to a situation, to detect and correct inappropriate magnification of negatives.

Cognitive Therapy has repeatedly been shown to be effective in a range of conditions, including depressive illness.  However, it does require considerable emotional and intellectual effort by patients and requires many hours of therapy usually.  However, some people believe this effort and time is better than taking antidepressant medication.  It has been shown that antidepressant medication is better than Cognitive Therapy in severe depression, as severely depressed patients find it impossible to put in the intellectual effort required when they are in fact paralysed intellectually by their illness.  It has also been shown that the combination of antidepressant medication and cognitive therapy is better than either treatment used on its own.

There are many books and self-help manuals written on Cognitive Therapy for Depression.

INTERPERSONAL THERAPY

This therapy is a relatively recent development in the treatment of depressive illness.  It operates on the fact that many episodes of depressive illness are related to difficulties between people, especially between partners and many episodes of depression are also related to changes in peoples’ lives.  Therapy based on this theory focuses particularly on an in-depth discussion and analysis of what goes on in conversations and interactions between people.  Often, it is found that there are significant misunderstandings between people or there are large areas of emotional misunderstanding or a sense of emotional neglect by one’s partner.  Ideally, clarification of the implications and of the true emotional responses, hopes and thoughts of the parties involved all lead to increased emotional harmony and resolution of the depressive illness.

Important Disclaimer:  This site is medical information only and is not to be taken as diagnosis, advice or treatment, which can only be decided by your own doctor.