The mental health charity Mind UK recently highlighted their concern that there is a serious need for a range of therapies to be made available to depression sufferers.

According to the best psychological working practices, medication is now considered to be only one option for effectively treating the illness.

Talk therapies — otherwise known as psychotherapy — such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) have proven effective at alleviating melancholic symptoms in hundreds of research studies conducted around the world. In Australia, the Australian Psychological Society has identified a serious need for psychotherapeutic interventions in the lives of people with depression.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy. Participants work with a specially trained psychologist to make positive steps in changing their thoughts and feelings. Committing to CBT means accepting that your actions affect your emotions and reasoning. Therapists help you to learn skills and strategies for changing negative thinking. This helps many people to learn to cope with depressive illness.

A recent study in the UK, carried out over a period of 12 months, looked at the benefits of CBT for managing depression. Participants were allocated a one-hour CBT session each week for the period of the trial.

After six months, 46 percent of the group who had been previously resistant to medication reported a reduction in depressive symptoms. The study concluded that CBT can improve quality of life by reducing depression’s severity.

A 2012 study published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry involved a review of Australian National Health data. Researchers became interested in the period between 2001 and 2006, when better access to psychological treatment was made available in Australia.

The study showed from 2001 to 2008, following health care reform, there was a drop in the use of antidepressant and anti-anxiety medications. CBT is currently recognized in Australia as being a viable and effective way of treating mental illnesses like depression.

It is important to note that CBT is not intended to be a substitute for medication. In many cases it will serve to complement any medicine from the family doctor or psychiatrist. However, in those for whom medication has failed, CBT offers an alternative while new medicines are being developed. Of course, not everything — whether medication or talk therapy — will work for everyone.

In Australia, there is still a shortage of psychiatrists. The right of psychologists to prescribe medication is now a subject for debate. If this becomes reality, the therapist will then be able to evaluate each patient’s needs, and only prescribe drugs when necessary.

In the meantime, although it may not be the best option, family physicians are able to prescribe psychiatric medications if they believe it warranted.

The actual theory behind positive psychology was defined in 1998 by Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi [1] and looks at all aspects of a person’s psychology. It does not discount traditional psychology, nor supersede it. Rather than viewing psychology purely as a treatment for the malign, however, it looks at the positive. Positive psychology is a recognized form of therapy and is offered by some counselors and psychologists.

Psychology has always been interested in where people’s lives have gone wrong, and what has resulted because of it [2]. Illnesses such as depression are well-documented and patterns of depressive behavior well-known. However, until recently, what makes people happy and how they achieve inner happiness and well-being has been a mystery.

Practitioners of positive psychology study people whose lives are positive and try to learn from them, in order to help others achieve this state of happiness [3]. It is a scientific study and not remotely hippie-ish, despite its connotations.

Positive thinking is one aspect of positive psychology. Surrounding yourself with a great lifestyle and material goods may seem to lead to happiness, but how you really feel is governed by what goes on inside your head. When you go out of your way to think positively, you actually purge yourself of negative self-talk. [1]

Negative self-talk is one of the biggest barriers to positive thinking. People become so accustomed to negative thinking that their conscious mind will pull them down, even when they have done nothing wrong. These people become insecure, overly apologetic and indecisive. Worse still, they open the door to numerous stress-related problems.

Negative thinkers have four common mindsets:

• Filtering.

  Many negative thinkers will pull the negatives out of a situation and focus on them. Sometimes these people will see only the negative in a situation, to the point where they deny any positive.

• Personalizing.

  Some people make every tragedy about themselves. They will personalize every negative thing and assume that bad things happen because they are unlucky, or as a result of something they did or didn’t do. They will often construct negative situations with perfect logic, providing plausible reasons why negative things are either their fault or set out to hurt them.

• Catastrophizing.

  This involves anticipating the worst. Some people even precipitate it. They can turn a slightly awkward interaction into an overreaction, making the situation worse. If something negative does happen, they will use it to validate their negative assumptions.

• Polarizing.

  This type of negative thinker sees things as black or white. Either a situation is perfect or it is a catastrophe. This type of negative thinking can affect every area of a person’s life. Its effects can be both psychological and physical. By practicing positive thinking, you can actually stave off medical conditions and reap the benefits of having a positive outlook on life.

Depression is complicated illness with physical and mental health elements. It would be flippant to suggest that someone with a positive outlook will not encounter depressive feelings.

However, positive psychology can be beneficial in treating depression. It can equip sufferers with the tools to stop downward spirals when they begin and help them to see the positive aspects to their lives. It can also help to stop the negative thinking habits that are common in depression. [4]

Scientific studies also show that there is a direct link between stress and the immune system. When a person is experiencing a period of stress and negativity, his or her body is less able to mount an inflammatory response to attacks from bacteria and viruses. This results in an increase in infections such as the common cold and cold sores. [5] Having a positive outlook on life also equips people better for dealing with serious illness. Tackling diseases such as cancer with optimism and self-belief has shown to have a beneficial effect on recovery and ability to tolerate treatment.

Among the other health benefits listed above, positive thinkers have a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease. They tend to have lower blood pressure than those who do not engage in positive thinking. The health benefits extend to the emotional side, too. optimists will have better physical and psychological well-being, and better skills for coping with stress and hardship.

It is important to remember that simply having a positive mindset won’t actually stop bad things from happening. But it does give you the tools to better deal with bad situations. Sometimes your coping skills come down to nothing more than refusing to give in to your negative side and your fears. For some people, positive thinking comes quite naturally. For others, seeking professional help is necessary to get them on the right track.

References

[1] http://www.ippanetwork.org/about/ippa_divisions/
[2] http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2003/nov/19/1
[3] http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Default.asp
[4] http://www.positivepsychologytraining.co.uk/depression/
[5] Miller, G. E. & Cohen, S. (2005). Infectious disease and psychoneuroimmununology. In K. Vedhara & M. Irwin (Eds.). Human psychoneuroimmunology. New York: Oxford University Press.
[6] http://uhs.berkeley.edu/students/healthpromotion/pdf/Positive%20Thinking.pdf

But the trend for the past decade has been to move away from interpersonal methods of treatment and toward cognitive therapies that allow for short-term treatment of problems, rather than a commitment of months or even years of analysis.

What Kinds of Treatments are Approved?

Very often, mental health treatments that may be approved for payment by the government or private insurance are short-term, cognitive methods (which, in some countries, may be time-limited to four to 12 weeks). These treatments are for mild to moderate depression, anxiety, panic attacks, eating disorders and some transitional issues (retirement, job loss, adoption, divorce, etc.).

Cognitive therapy is focused on resolving the immediate mental health concern and the symptoms that are the most distressing. Cognitive therapies are cost-effective since they require only a dozen or two counseling sessions in order to help the patient, rather than a year or longer of treatment.

Computerized Cognitive Treatment

The use of computer programs is one of the newest innovations in mental health care. In many cases, a client using this treatment does not meet often with their counselor, but instead works with a computer program to reduce anxiety, improve depression or manage pain. The programs track progress and can be remotely monitored by a counselor.

For individuals who live in rural areas without enough counselors available, using computer treatment may be a viable option, particularly if Internet access is available and Internet video cameras are available so that counselor and client can consult periodically.

What are Licensed Counselors?

One of the largest trends in mental health and psychology is the use of licensed mental health counselors as opposed to psychologists or psychiatrists. There are a multitude of reasons for this trend, including cost, training, and specific experience.

Professional counselors are trained to help people understand relationships and how those relationships affect them in their everyday lives. Very often how we relate to others is integrated into every aspect of our life and can affect our self-concept, our mood and our ability to engage in healthy interactions with others. Our ability to maintain healthy relationships can affect our ability to have a job, our happiness with our family and even our ability to move comfortably into our elder years.

Why are We Moving Away from Psychiatrists?

Psychiatrists have a definite role in the realm of mental health. However, in the past psychiatrists played a larger role in the treatment of mental health issues than they do today. Instead, contemporary psychiatrists often evaluate a person’s need for psychotropic medications to address mood disorders, bipolar disorder and other mental health issues. They may meet periodically with a client to maintain and monitor medications and consult regularly with a counselor or therapist treating the client in order to continue monitoring their progress. However, it is very rare today that a psychiatrist will provide counseling and intensive treatment for mental health issues and relationship problems.

What is the Role of Medication versus Treatment?

Much mental health treatment today involves evaluation for medication. This is because research has repeatedly found that the combination of medication and counseling or therapy is the most effective method of addressing mental health issues, especially in depression.

Psychotropic medication helps individuals regain and maintain their cognitive functions. Very often, mental health issues are the result of imbalances in neurochemistry, particularly serotonin, norepinephrine and epinephrine. Contemporary antidepressants and atypical antidepressants help rebalance these chemicals to improve mental health and make it possible for clients to integrate the information being conveyed during counseling sessions.

With the ability to think clearly, clients are better able to utilize the improved coping skills and healthier attitudes that result from counseling. As a result, medication may be considered an important part of mental health treatment and psychology today.

What is Sports Psychology?

Sports psychology is specifically geared toward helping athletes gain focus and maintain a “winning” attitude in competition. Specific areas of concentration may include visualization of activities that will help with scoring (shooting baskets, good kicking body position, hitting the ball, etc.), overcoming performance anxiety, positive self-talk and other activities that increase an athlete’s or team’s desire to compete well.

What is Organizational Psychology?

Therapists, counselors and psychologists who specialize in organizational psychology help businesses understand the organization as a living entity and how personal interactions between business associates and employees can affect the business’s success or failure. Organizational psychologists often are employed to help companies as they motivate employees to reach sales goals or to encourage positive interactions and innovation. Organizational psychologists often evaluate employees and employee positions for optimal performance and placement.