Cognitive therapy works on the principle that these schemas can be recognized objectively 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.
Research indicates that cognitive therapy might be used as a second-stage treatment for mopping up any residual depression in people who have completed successful regimens of antidepressants. Cognitive therapy may also be particularly helpful for adolescents with mild symptoms of major depression, for women with non-psychotic postpartum depression, and for preventing children of depressed parents from developing the disorder later on. In this latter case, therapy should involve the whole family. 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.