Depression self-help program within a healthcare framework does work to the benefit of the depressed person. Cognitive Behavior Therapy is also known as CBT. The World health organization has suggested that out of all the people suffering from depression 60 to 80 percent of them can be benefited significantly with medication or psychotherapy along with primary care. In practice, it is a formidable task to provide this treatment to even 50 percent of the people who need it.
The primary reason for this is the limited number of therapists available and the ever-growing number of treatment guidelines that recommend psychological therapies which are evidence-based, one of these is CBT. To overcome this challenge a low-intensity therapy can be the right approach. CBT self-help is one such option. Many studies have established that self-directed CBT can be effective in significantly reducing both anxieties as well as depression.
The overall result can be considered to be moderate. One of the positive outcomes that have been observed is that Depression self-help program helps people to maintain their progress over time. In other words, by learning the skills that can be used for yourself after treatment you can become your own therapist.
The cognitive techniques which can be effective are
- You should try and identify your thought patterns.
- Observe how your feelings and behavior is affected by your thoughts.
- Assessing the thoughts for accuracy.
- The biased thoughts once identified are replaced with the more realistic ones.
The usual behavior techniques followed are
- You must plan activities that you are able to enjoy and gain a sense of accomplishment from.
- Observing and identifying how your thoughts and emotions are influenced by the actions.
- Practicing time management that helps you become more productive.
- When intimidating tasks are to be carried out, they are broken down into more manageable ones.
- By facing your fears more and more instead of avoiding you make the fear weaker and weaker.
The following guidelines are provided to help you pursue CBT self-help.
Find a book that strikes a chord in you – the association for behavioral and cognitive therapies maintains a list of books that they have approved for use. By finding the right book you will remain engaged in it.
Find time in your schedule to focus on the program – The normal tendency of humans is to accord lower priority to self-help and instead get busy with other day to day tasks. Procrastination plays a major role in relegating the program to a corner and gradually giving it up. It is essential to make time on a regular basis to focus on the program.
Conclusion
In today’s competitive world and lot of peer pressure, we are living in a state of high stress. This leads to anxiety and other complications like depression and addiction. The soaring health costs and limited insurance coverage for mental health make the situation more daunting. In this scenario, Depression self-help program can help you to a great extent.