Perhaps many people’s first reaction when they hear the word “depression” is that it is a mental illness. In fact, depression is first and foremost a natural emotion inherent in us humans, just like happiness, anger, and anxiety. They are all part of our emotional system and are very natural.
When an individual is in a state of depression, they may experience feelings such as:
Emotionally: The mood becomes very low, and there is no trace of happiness. Things that used to attract us and bring us joy may now seem uninteresting. We may feel self-blame at times and despair at other times.
Mentally: Negative thoughts may flood the mind, such as thoughts like “I can’t do anything right,” “The future is bleak,” and “I am powerless in these matters.”
Occasionally, we may even have thoughts like “maybe things would be better if I were dead, everything would be resolved.”
Behaviorally: Attention in daily work, study, and leisure may also be impacted due to these thoughts and feelings, causing lack of concentration.
Furthermore, these thoughts and emotional changes can also affect an individual’s eating and sleeping habits, resulting in either reduced or increased intake of food and sleep, feeling exceptionally fatigued, and lacking the energy to do things.
All of these are changes that depression may bring about.
So how do we differentiate between depression as an emotion and clinical depression?
How to differentiate between depression as an emotion and clinical depression?
The impact of depressive emotions is relatively short-lived. Generally, with changes in time, psychological changes, or changes in the situation itself, it naturally eases. It can be a matter of hours or days at times.
After the easing, the individual’s mood becomes calm or even cheerful and uplifting.
This continuous fluctuation from depression to happiness is the characteristic of the fluctuation of depressive emotions.
Whereas depression is a psychological disorder. When someone has depression, the degree of the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral changes we mentioned earlier becomes more severe and prolonged.
If individuals experience deep depressive emotions almost daily or for the majority of the day for over two weeks or more, and it affects their normal life, study, work, and social interactions, then clinical depression should be considered.
The causes and mechanisms of depression are complex and involve genetics, the nervous system, early experiences, special events, and more.
Today, we will look at how cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) understands depression from its perspective and which methods provide effective interventions for depression.
How does cognitive behavioral therapy understand depression?
Cognitive behavioral therapy does not ignore factors beyond cognition in its impact on depression but rather focuses more on the cognitive causes of depression and the role cognitive factors play in maintaining depression.
When an individual has early experiences that are conducive to their psychological development and can meet their psychological needs, they are likely to develop positive schemas, leading them to believe they are capable, the world is relatively friendly, and the future is hopeful.
Such individuals, when faced with setbacks in the future like not performing well in exams, though they may feel disheartened, their thinking remains positive and flexible, allowing them to reflect on the reasons for their poor performance and regain motivation to work hard for the next time.
If individuals with depression have formed negative and maladaptive schemas in their early life due to the combined effects of their genetics, environment, relationships, and cognitive learning, these schemas are typically filled with elements of loss, worthlessness, defeat, and pessimism, leading to negative expectations, sadness, and self-blame.
