Cognitive Therapy
© John McManamy
And modern researchers can see the results, thanks to PET scan technology - there along the left prefrontal lobe, an ominous blue blotch signifying the mind in crisis, and again in the paralimbic regions of the brain. And, reassuringly, researchers can also view that very same dark cloud being lifted, of one's brain being restored to working order.
But what's the connection? How does one's thinking relate to the digital shadows on a PET scan? Can the way you think REALLY bring on a depression? And, if so, can the reverse apply? Can you actually THINK your way out of the deep dark pits of despair?
Consider this case, reported in an article at Depression.com.
In 1976, David Burns MD became a father. The birth was normal, but the boy was blue and gasping for air, and sent into intensive care. Despite the obstetrician's reassurances, Burns visualized the worst. He imagined a severely brain-damaged son and everything that implied. Feeling his own mental well-being slipping away, Burns turned to the therapeutic techniques pioneered by his colleague, Aaron Beck MD.
It didn't take the new father long to identify his negative thoughts and realize he had jumped to some fairly wild conclusions. Soon his son was breathing just fine, and Burns was on his way to becoming a leading advocate of Beck's technique, one we know of as cognitive therapy.
Cognitive thereapy is fairly new to the mental health field, but we can actually trace its development back in time 2,600 years to the Buddha (see previous article) and the great emphasis his followers place on watching - and eventually taming - one's thoughts. There, the goal is eventual enlightenment. Here, we are speaking in relatively more modest terms of saving one's own life - of watching how you think in certain situations, and making the appropriate adjustments.
Cognitive therapy is not a cure for depression. Unlike traditional psychoanalysis, it does not purport to get to and root out the underlying causes of one's problem. At best, it can help keep the monster at bay. These days it is typically used in combination with drug therapy, once the patient is responding to medication, and generally involves from ten to twenty sessions. You should not feel you have to reveal private details of your life in cognitive therapy, but do expect to have your thinking challenged.
