What is Depression Therapy?

In the midst of depression, it can feel like there is no way out. How can therapy help? What does therapy even do to help with depression?

What is Depression?

Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses, with more and more people seeking out support for depression. For more information, check out our blog here.

In all, depression is a whole lot more than just feeling sad, and many people suffering from depression experience extreme difficulty doing even routine things. Whether it be going to work, going out, cleaning the house, or just getting out of bed, depression can be paralyzing.

How is Depression Treated?

When many people think of treatments for depression, their first thought goes to medications. Antidepressant medications are widely used and have become far more common in recent years. However, what many people don’t think of is therapy.

Therapy is very effective in treating depression, with cognitive behavioral therapy having shown to be effective across the research.

What Do You Do in Depression Therapy?

Therapy sessions targeted to treat depression will work on: identifying the problem, identifying what you want to change, and working on what is causing the problems and what things you can do to start feeling better. From a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) standpoint, your therapist will work with you to identify the maladaptive (not helpful) automatic thoughts that you have. These automatic thoughts are things that pop into our heads without us even thinking about it.

Common automatic thought include:

“I’m worthless.” “I’m a failure.” “I can’t do anything right.”

Throughout therapy, you and your therapist will work on identifying some of these thoughts that you have, become more aware of when you have these thoughts, and work on developing some more helpful thought patterns.

For example, instead of thinking, “I’m a failure, I’ll never amount to anything” after a bad test grade, you’ll be able to instead think, “I studied really hard, it was a tough test but I know I did my best and everything will work out.”

A Ending Note on Depression Therapy

While there are some pieces that are common to all parts of therapy, the work that you do with your therapist is going to be unique and individual to you and your situation. If at any point you feel confused about what you are doing during therapy or want to work on something else, we encourage you to speak up and tell your therapist. If you are interested in getting started with depression therapy, feel free to click the link at the bottom of this page to get connected to our practice!

Hudson Therapy is a Westchester county counseling practice located in White Plains, NY. Our team of therapists provide depression therapy for children, teens and adults.