CBT for depression treatment
A good goal in life is to develop the ability to think accurately about things. This is harder than you might imagine but all effort is repaid ten-fold. It is a goal of every Anxiety Therapy or Depression Treatment within CBT Therapy that you become clearer on what is accurate in your life and what is inaccurate.
The alternative to accurate thinking is inaccurate thinking and that leads to depression and Anxiety Problems, so let’s be clear… the stakes are high.
CBT Therapy
Let’s offer an example of the power of negative thought to frighten and depress you. Imagine that you have to speak in front of a large group of people who you think are knowledgeable about your subject. You believe that your performance is important. It matters to you how well you do. Depending upon your experience of this kind of activity, your reaction might range from excitement to absolute terror.
What would make you feel terrified?
Let us assume that you are rather more on the terror side. What would make you feel terrified?
It is easy to imagine that because you believe the talk to be important, you are also aware of every possible negative outcome that you can imagine. And, it can now feel like anxiety problems are leaking into your life ruining some of the things you hold dearest.
Here are some examples:
I will make a fool of my
self.
People will know I am a fraud.
People will see I do not know enough.
I will lose control and panic while I am speaking.
People will laugh at me.
If you believed that any of these were true, or even likely, how would you feel?
You would probably feel a mixture of fear, shame, guilt, despair, helplessness, panic, anger, anxiety and a strong desire to run away and hide.
You have not even given the talk, but all of these emotions are the result of how you imagine it might go.
Self-defeating and damaging beliefs
In low mood and depression it is very common to hold a series of self-defeating and damaging beliefs about yourself. These beliefs detract from your ability to enjoy your life.
If they are very strong they can even make your very survival problematic. Many of the negative beliefs you hold about yourself have never been demonstrated, neither is there any evidence to support them.Suppose you gave a successful talk 99 times and one time you gave a poor talk.Which would be the most memorable and which would you think most accurately reflected who you are?
We reckon its the one bad talk.
Free from fear
All of your life you have probably had normal everyday experiences. It is very rare for the negative beliefs you hold about yourself to have been demonstrated in reality.
They reside in your mind and direct you to feel bad, but there is probably little or no evidence that they reflect reality.
CBT Therapy and more specifically depression treatment or anxiety therapy is a means of accessing these damaging negative beliefs and finding ways of understanding their actions and then testing them against reality. This process is easy to describe but in reality it is a profound re-working of the most fundamental negative beliefs you hold about yourself, the world and your future.
A Depression Treatment that really gets to grips with helping you to challenge your deepest negative self beliefs can literally change your life. Likewise an Anxiety Therapy that frees you from fear is a great gift to be cherished. When clear and open reality baths your deepest held negative beliefs this can be a great relief and is definitely a life changing experience that is worth seeking out.
Visit Dr David Purves
If you think you struggle with depression and you want to change your experience please consider an assessment session with Dr Purves.
You will find the assessment session explains everything and gives you a really clear road map for treatment.
