The importance of cognitive behavioral therapy in the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders

The importance of cognitive behavioral therapy in the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders

Depression and anxiety disorders are psychosomatic conditions, meaning a combination of psychological and physical factors. While the physical (or somatic) component of the disease is treated with antidepressants, the psychological component is treated with psychotherapy.

Psychotherapy involves speaking to a mental health professional such as a psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker or counselor who will first determine the reason for an anxiety disorder and determine how to reduce the impact of the reason on the patient's psyche. The particular type of psychotherapy that has proven to be very useful in treating anxiety disorders is: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). As the name suggests, CBT consists of two elements: the cognitive element and the behavioral element.

Cognitive element:The cognitive element of CBT helps people change the thought structure that creates the fears and anxieties that caused the anxiety disorder.

Behavioral element:The behavioral element of CBT encourages people to change the way they respond to anxiety-provoking situations.

Illustrations of how CBT works:Suppose a psychiatrist is treating a patient who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), in which he or she fears becoming infected by germs and therefore washes his or her hands repeatedly. A psychiatrist or trained mental health professional lets this patient's hands get dirty and waits longer and longer before he can wash them. When this exercise has been repeated several times and the patient finds that no infection has been caused despite the dirty hands left unwashed for so long, his fear of infection by germs decreases.

For example, another example of how CBT works is the treatment of social phobia. The patient is encouraged to be present in social situations that he fears and is allowed to make social mistakes or inetiquette. It is then pointed out to him that no one has really noticed - or perhaps noticed but gave it no importance, or better yet, some others have made the same mistakes and yet are very socially comfortable - the patient becomes more receptive to the social environment he or she once feared.

CBT usually lasts about three months and is administered individually or in groups. It can start directly with the patient or start with videos and images depicting the patient's situation and how they have overcome their fears.

Finally, CBT can only work in collaboration with the patient. The patient must acknowledge that an anxiety disorder is affecting him/her and therefore must want to take this therapy. With the administration of antidepressants, CBT can enable people with anxiety disorders to live normal and fulfilling lives.

Alternative practitioner psychotherapy

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