Depression is not just sadness that requires treatment but becomes severe and often tearful, usually along with poor appetite or overeating, sleep difficulties, low energy, low self-esteem, poor concentration, difficulty making decisions, and feelings of hopelessness. Sometimes, due to early experiences in life, the person starts formulating dysfunctional assumptions (rigid, resistant to change, and extreme). The problem arises when these assumptions get activated by critical incidents, which further lead to automatic negative thoughts and triggered symptoms of depressive mood. A Counselling Psychologist or depression Counsellor observed that a person shows definite following behavior patterns during this phase:

  • Negative Thoughts: A person has a negative view of self. The person perceives oneself as inadequate and deprived. The person also negatively depicts ongoing experiences. The person thinks negatively about the future.
  • Arbitrary Thoughts: A person concludes without considering alternatives or based on inadequate evidence.
  • Selective Abstraction: A person pays attention selectively to the wrong clues. A person pays attention to some particular cues and ignores others.
  • Overgeneralization: When a person fails in one particular task, then generalizes that failure in others, too.
  • Magnification: Here, little things become totally out of proportion. That is making a mountain out of a molehill.
  • Rules or Assumptions: People think rules become part of their cognitive structure and believe they are accurate in all situations. Some judge them as inadequate compared to their high standards.
  • Helplessness: A person expects unpleasant events to occur; there is nothing to do to intercept them. After meeting failure, when a person formulates internal clarification, passivity increases, and self-esteem drops, and when a person constructs external clarification, passivity ensures that self-esteem stays high.
  • Blaming: When situations are beyond control, people often blame themselves when something goes wrong. The reason behind this is expectations.
  • Suicidal or Self-injury: A person shows such behavior as an impulsive act to produce some attention from the surroundings. The purpose is to alter their life situation, not to die.    

For treatment, medicine alone will probably never provide the solution to be out of Depression. Several Cognitive and Behavioral Techniques (CBT) are exponent in the treatment of Depression, concerned with changing behavior on the one hand and changing cognition on the other. Counseling Psychologists or Depression counselors use these Cognitive and Behavioral Techniques (CBT) to modify maladaptive belief systems, attitudes, and expectations. The main aim of these Cognitive and Behavioral Techniques (CBT) is to:

  • Increase Activity: Social Reinforcement can be used to start the process and various activities of a depressive person.
  • Reducing Unwanted Behavior: The stopping Technique can direct negative thoughts.
  • Increasing Pleasure: Several activities tend to elevate the mood, including having peace, being relaxed, and thinking something good about the future.
  • Enhancing Skills: With practice, the confidence level increases by gradually increasing the difficulty of tasks. The target is to intensify skills like Painting, Sketching, and Dancing.

Dr. Nisha Khanna is a qualified Psychologist and a Depression Counsellor who proffers online, telephonically, and face-to-face Counselling Services. If you are in Delhi, India, or any other part of the World, you can approach us through any of these mediums. For details, visit Bye Tense or call us at +91-9312730331