Posted by Racer on September 25, 2006, at 14:57:47
In reply to How well does CBT work for depression, posted by saturn on September 23, 2006, at 20:23:04
Depends on a lot of factors.
In my own opinion, based on little more than my own experience, CBT is most helpful for mild to moderate depression -- and even then, it's most helpful for those whose depression is more situational than purely biological. And in some cases, CBT can be damaging, too.
That said, even for those whose depression is purely biological, I think some therapy is virtually necessary. Depression warps us so much, in so many ways, that we need to address those non-biological issues, too. Medication alone can lift the veil, but that still leaves the habits that depression forms for most people. Habits of thought may respond to CBT.
Part of it depends on motivation, of course. If you are motivated to work at it, then you're likely to get some benefit from it. If not...
Even in non-CBT therapy, there's likely some CBT style work. Distortions, habits of pessimism, etc, really are where CBT is strongest.
In my case, I'm not exactly on a first name basis with my emotions. What's more, the classic CBT "as soon as you feel that, think this" is just too close to what I get from my eating disorder, so CBT tends to trigger symptoms for me. What's more, I get into a loop that goes through "If I feel bad because I think this way, and it's all up to me to feel better, and I don't feel better -- then it's My Fault." That's certainly a distortion, but CBT triggers it for me, and every time I've seen a CBT-oriented therapist, they've ignored that -- either not even let me tell them about it, or they've told me that that's only a distortion and I have to stop thinking it. Well, maybe if they worked with me on it, rather than ignoring it? Again, that's just me.
Mind you, I'm certainly not saying that CBT is bad. It's not. CBT is like nearly everything in this world: it's got good and not so good to it, and it works for some and not so well for others. It's certainly worth trying, at least as an adjunct to other treatments.
And in my case, there are some cognitive things involved in my therapy -- it's just that it's not CBT. It's "eclectic" -- which fits best for me.
Good luck.
poster:Racer
thread:688984
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060911/msgs/689109.html