For people who are suffering from depression, cognitive behavioral therapy can help improve symptoms. This type of talk therapy can be done with a therapist or online at places like Therapy For You – NHS Mental Health Trust. A therapist can teach you to challenge distorted thoughts and unhealthy behavior patterns. They can also help you manage stress better and practice calming techniques.
Boosts Self-Esteem
Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is a form of talk therapy for depression in NYC that, for some people, can work as well as or better than antidepressants. It helps you identify and challenge negative or false thoughts, such as “I’m unlovable,” and replace them with healthier ones like, “My family and friends love me.” During your first few sessions, the therapist will help you understand your emotions, behaviors, and thought patterns contributing to depression. Your therapist may also ask you to keep a journal and give you “homework” that involves practicing new skills between sessions, such as identifying negative thoughts or changing behavior patterns. The therapist will also teach you strategies to replace avoidance behaviors (such as staying away from social situations or not performing daily tasks) with activities that produce pleasure and feelings of accomplishment. These can be simple things like reading a book or making your bed, but the point is to start small and build up to more challenging behaviors. In addition to CBT, some practitioners also use other treatment styles, such as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), which increases mental flexibility in the moment and over time.
Reduces Anxiety
How you think can be as crucial to your mental health as what you eat and how much sleep you get. If you often feel overwhelmed by negative thoughts or that everything is going wrong, a therapist using cognitive behavioral therapy can help. The CBT method is based on believing that maladaptive thinking patterns can lead to depression. This type of talk therapy can be as effective as antidepressants for many people with mild to moderate depression. Your therapist will teach you to identify your negative automatic thoughts, which can trigger depressive feelings. They will also help you learn new, balanced thoughts that can improve your mood and make you feel better. Depression symptoms like sadness, loss of interest in daily activities, low energy, and a sense of hopelessness can be overwhelming and challenging to overcome without professional help. But if you can commit to changing your negative core beliefs, it can be life-changing for your mental and physical health. Choosing a therapist specializing in cognitive behavioral therapy is the first step to transforming depressive symptoms.
Improves Sleep
Depression is a debilitating illness that impacts the sufferer and those around them, including family, friends, and coworkers. Fortunately, research has shown that psychotherapy is at least as effective as antidepressant medication for people with mild to moderate depression. Therapists teach you new skills to change negative thought patterns and behavior during CBT. These techniques, called cognitive methods, help you to understand and challenge your depressive thoughts by teaching you to recognize what they are based on, the emotion or trigger that caused them, and to provide a more realistic perspective of the situation. CBT focuses on changing the thinking and behavior associated with depression, as they are linked. Your therapist will often ask you to keep a sleep diary as part of your therapy, and this can highlight how certain behaviors contribute to poor sleeping habits.
Increases Energy
Cognitive behavioral therapy teaches people that they can take control of their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It also teaches them that their actions can affect their mood, affecting how they feel. During CBT, therapists teach patients to identify depressive thinking patterns and behaviors. They then use techniques to help the patient challenge and rationalize these negative thoughts, thus reducing their power over them. These methods include thought journaling, cognitive restructuring, and coping skills.
Additionally, therapists may recommend pleasurable activities to encourage positive emotions and increase energy. They also encourage patients to reward themselves for engaging in these pleasant activities, which can help them realize that they can feel pleasure and self-worth. Regardless of the treatment modality, cognitive behavioral therapy for depression can be effective for most individuals.
Boosts Self-Confidence
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a powerful tool that can transform depressive symptoms. However, it requires the patient to be highly motivated and introspective and recognize that they have power over their lives. Therefore, some patients may not benefit from CBT alone and require a combination of psychotherapy and antidepressants to overcome depressive symptoms. In CBT, a person learns to examine and dismantle negative thought patterns that negatively affect emotions and behaviors. The patient can form healthy thinking habits by identifying and challenging these false beliefs. This process is called cognitive restructuring. During this phase, a therapist can help people identify and practice ways to rationalize distortions and self-talk, which leads to more resilient and empowering beliefs. Patients can learn to replace negative avoidance behaviors with activities that produce pleasure and feelings of accomplishment. They can also learn to record their day-to-day activities and rate them on a scale of 1-10 for Pleasure (P) and Mastery (M). This helps patients understand how they are performing daily. Over time, this increases their sense of accomplishment and reduces depression symptoms.
