Mood Disorders

Cognitive behavioral therapy is recommended as a first-line treatment for depression.  CBT is built on the principles that a client can change their behavior by identifying problematic thinking patterns and learning to effectively manage their emotions.  The client and therapist will work to individualize the treatment to identify for each client what is getting in the way of changing their behavior and work to build skills to eventually manage stressors and difficult situations on their own. 

 

Behavioral activation is another type of treatment offered by The Counseling and Wellness Group to target depression and mood disorders.  While BA does share some components of CBT, it takes a somewhat different approach in that BA works from the “outside in”.  BA focuses on changing the behavior to impact the mood instead of the other way around.  This treatment has been shown to be equally effective to CBT and may be effective for clients that have tried CBT and not found it effective in the past.                                                                         

 

Dialectical behavior therapy was designed my Dr. Marsha Linehan as a treatment originally for suicidal and non-suicidal self-injuring behavior.  While it is an evidence-based treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder when the treatment is delivered as it was originally written, the skills developed for DBT are often helpful for clients struggling with depression or mood disorders that does not respond to traditional treatment.  While The Counseling and Wellness Group is not able to offer adherent DBT at this time, we are able to teach DBT skills including mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and walking the middle path to individuals and their families helping them find their life worth living and teaching them to manage their mood more effectively.