Depression treatment

Effective types of therapy

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is used in depression to challenge non-knocking thoughts. You do this under the guidance of the psychologist. Together you discuss, for example, how realistic your self-image is. Or you do a behavioral intervention, where you plan and do more fun activities in a week.

• Acceptance and Commitment therapy
  Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a form of therapy that revolves around “acceptance” and “commitment,” in other words, living by your values. In this form of therapy you learn to fight less with your mental suffering and to focus on what a valuable life means to you. How can you live accordingly? You discuss this with your psychologist and then try to apply it in your life.

• EMDR
  EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization And Reprocessing. It is a form of therapy that helps you make emotions surrounding a negative life event less intense. If your depression is the result of a specific moment or period in your life, EMDR can contribute to your treatment.

• Schema therapy
  Schema therapy is all about breaking ingrained patterns that aren’t working for you. In schema-focused therapy for depression, the psychologist tries to give you back a piece of what you missed in your childhood.

• Interpersonal therapy
  Interpersonal therapy is designed specifically for depression symptoms and focuses on your relationships with other people. A number of psychologists at iPractice use elements of interpersonal therapy during treatment.

How does a psychologist help with depression?

A psychologist looks at two major factors that maintain depression: activity patterns and (often automatic) negative thoughts. Those two patterns are addressed to overcome your depression.

• Activity pattern
  When you are depressed, you find it difficult to keep up with daily tasks, let alone larger activities. You want to do things, but somehow you keep putting them off, and as a result it becomes increasingly difficult for you to actually do them. You feel like you can’t handle those activities at all. This then, in addition to a lack of satisfaction, creates a feeling of powerlessness and worthlessness. This in turn reinforces your gloominess.

• Negative thoughts
  Your view of the world and everything around you is gloomy. You tend to see mostly those negative aspects of yourself, others, the world and your future.

Gloomy feelings of depression can last a long time and sometimes become more intense. It can feel like you are in a vicious cycle. You see no solution which makes your mood even more gloomy. Treatment from a psychologist offers relief. During an appointment with one of iPractice’s psychologists, they teach you how to deal with your depressive symptoms and feelings. Psychologists give you concrete tools to get out of those gloomy thoughts.

Recover from depression

What happens if you don’t treat depression?

Failure to treat depression or treating it too late increases the risk of long-term or recurrent depression. Depression can also develop into chronic depression. Therefore, it is important to seek help in time when you feel that you are not getting yourself out of the negative spiral.

How do you notice when depression clears up?

When depression clears up, you notice in yourself that you have more energy again and also feel like doing fun things. You take better care of yourself again and your sleep rhythm also improves. You wake up feeling better in the morning and have less trouble starting your day. The quality of your sleep and the improvement in it says something about the effectiveness of your treatment.

Can you get yourself out of depression?

How to proceed with or after depression?

• Detect future symptoms in time and prevent a relapse into depression
• Intervene when necessary
• Make exercises part of your daily habits.