The short answer is yes, and so is the long answer. When I wrote the original version of this page - and when
I was writing my first book almost ten years ago - there was still a lively and often contentious ongoing debate
between psychiatrists and psychopharmacologists who said,"No, therapy isn't needed, medication does the job,"
and psychologists and a wide variety of talk therapists who said, "Yes, therapy is the key to recovery and
medication needed only occasionally."
That debate has been resolved, thanks to numerous, well-conducted and widely accepted research studies, and
there is now general agreement among experts that medication and therapy combined is the right answer. The
therapy that receives the highest marks for depression is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a short-term,
participatory therapy.
Dense negativity and hopelessness are the core elements of depression. They distort incoming information and
dictate thoughts and behavior that have little or no basis in reality. But your depression sufferer doesn't know that, and therefore accepts his/her distorted view of the world - and everyone in it, including themselves - as 100% true. Changing these long-established cognitive habits is a must, and medication rarely manages to do that on its own.
When looking for a therapist, take into consideration how much experience the therapist has in treating depression and what type of therapy is used. Supportive, short-term therapy, as opposed to expressive, long-term therapy, is a better choice for depression, although client and therapist may decide to go on to gaining insight through expressive therapy.
Depression fallout sufferers also benefit from psychotherapy. But the time for couples therapy is after the depression or bipolar disorder has been effectively treated, not before.
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