Six Effective Strategies For Depression

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Depression is one of the most common reasons people turn to psychotherapists, psychiatrists and psychoanalysts. Depression is dangerous enough, so it is worth taking a minute to know what methods of working and preventing depression are effective. Most people who have dealt with depression have a hard time finding a good treatment, but it does exist. Part of the problem is that one type of treatment may work for one person but not for another. It may take several tries before the correct therapy or combination of treatments is found. Here are some of the methods that have been proven to be effective.

1) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

This form of therapy is considered by many to be the gold standard in the treatment of depression. The idea here is that the person first becomes aware of their negative thinking patterns, which are probably the main cause of depression, and then learns to replace them with more positive ones.

Studies have shown that CBT is quite effective in treating depression, and its effectiveness is at least comparable to antidepressant medication. More recent work has suggested that CBT has lost some of its effectiveness over the years, meaning it is now not as powerful as it was when it was first studied in the 1970s. The authors of one such study suggest that some of its initial effectiveness may have been in part due to the placebo effect, which may have disappeared over time. Others suggest that CBT is primarily useful as an active treatment, but its effects tend to weaken more rapidly over the years after treatment is stopped. Whatever it was, but CBT is still considered one of the most effective methods for dealing with depression.

2) Psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychotherapy

This strategy of work has undergone many changes in recent decades, as some schools have moved far from the legacy of Freud. This type of therapy is lengthy and requires two to several sessions per week. The goal of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic therapy is to help a person understand his unconscious processes and beliefs, so that, after realizing them, they can be examined and worked out. Psychoanalysis can help treat depression, as in many people depression is caused by long-standing and often unconscious thoughts about themselves and others, as well as about the world in general. They often form due to poor family dynamics and early trauma.

Although historically studies on the effectiveness of psychoanalysis have been less frequent than behavioral methods, several studies have confirmed its effectiveness in psychiatric disorders, including depression, especially in the long term. Although psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic therapy do not have superior power over cognitive behavioral therapy in the short term, they do appear in the long term. After a while after the end of therapy, psychoanalysis becomes more effective than CBT, the effectiveness of which has declined relatively quickly.

3) Short term therapy

There are other depression methods that are definitely worth considering depending on your needs. For example: Acceptance and Responsibility Therapy (ACT), which is related to CBT but uses more elements of mindfulness, Emotional Focused Therapy (EFT), Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), and others.

4) Exercise

While physical activity is certainly not a form of therapy, it can help prevent depression symptoms.

5) Mindfulness Meditation and Healing

Like physical activity, they should be classified as a method of prevention rather than treatment; nevertheless, they also demonstrate high efficiency.

6) Drug treatment

There is no doubt that antidepressants help many people with depression and have changed many lives. Although it is generally believed that drug therapy and talk therapy should be combined, as this greatly reduces the risk of depression recurring