Cognitive behaviour therapy and depression

The main assumptions of cognitive behaviour therapy are that depressed affect may be caused by certain erroneous thought processes and that such processes may be identified and modified by a combination of cognitive and behavioural techniques. The patient is trained to monitor and record the automatic thoughts associated with his depressed moods and to substitute alternative more adaptive thoughts. During cognitive restructuring, he is trained to challenge and test out alternative ways of thinking and behaving. Within therapy sessions techniques such as role rehearsal and modelling are used, while in his day-to-day life the patient is encouraged to carry out increasingly difficult task assignments in order to increase his experience of success and raise his level of activity. Where the patient's problems are partly attributable to real deficits in specific basic coping skills, he is given training to overcome those difficulties. The various components of therapy are combined to meet the individual's needs and two or more components may be utilized simultaneously.