Cognitive therapy works on the principle that these schemas can be recognized and altered, thereby changing the response and eliminating the depression. First, the patient must learn how to recognize depressive reactions and thoughts as they occur, usually by keeping a journal of feelings about and reactions to daily events. Then, the patient and therapist examine and challenge these entrenched and automatic reactions and thoughts. As the patient begins to understand the underlying falseness of the assumptions that cause depression, he or she can begin substituting new ways of coping. Over time, such exercises help build confidence and eventually alter behavior.
Cognitive therapy is a time-limited treatment lasting three to four months.
Patients may take either group or individual cognitive therapy. Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Based on Freudian theory, psychodynamic psychotherapy concentrates on working through unresolved conflicts from one's childhood. Depression is viewed as a grieving process for the loss of a parent or other significant person or for the loss of their love. Freud theorized that the depressed individual can only express rage at this loss by turning it against her or himself and transforming it into depression. The therapeutic goal of the patient is to interpret and understand these early feelings by re-experiencing them.