4.3.3 Cognitive Treatments of Depression

Cognitive behavioural therapy

Aims to identify and challenge irrational thoughts, replacing them with more productive behaviours, and thus treating depression.

Cognitive behavioural therapy

(CBT)

CBT aims to identify and challenge irrational thoughts, replacing them with more productive behaviours, and thus treating depression.

Beck's CBT aims to identify the patient's thoughts and challenge them as irrational.

The therapist encourages the patient to explain their experiences and challenges any negative beliefs by giving evidence that disproves their thoughts, helping the patient to understand that they are not based on reality.
The patient is then given homework to test the therapist's hypothesis and to try out coping strategies they have learnt in therapy

Evaluation:

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P: CBT may not be effective for everyone

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E: Some patients may feel judged by the therapist when talking about their problems, or overwhelmed by the amount of work that has to be done

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E: Therefore, there are individual differences in patients' experiences of CBT, so the effectiveness will vary between individuals

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P: Other treatments may be more effective and more cost-effective

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E: Drug therapies help to treat the biological causes of disorders and are able to be mass-produced and are therefore cheaper than CBT as CBT requires a trained specialist

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E: This challenges its effectiveness in comparison to drug therapies

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