Cognitive triads and their understanding can significantly facilitate the process of forming and prescribing treatment for patients with depressive disorder. Thus, people with clinical depression are most often characterized by a triad of negative ideas about such aspects as the future, the world around them, and patients about themselves. In the case of the investigated psychological disorder, patients have a disturbing understanding of these three factors. Moreover, it is also supported by symptoms of depression, which include “loss of interest or enjoyment in activities; changes in weight and appetite; changes in sleep patterns; being either agitated or slowed up; loss of energy; feeling worthless or guilty; poor concentration and decision making; and suicidal thoughts and images” (Kennerley et al., 2017, p. 560). Mainly strongly negative thoughts are reflected in relation to the future, as patients with a severe course of depressive disorder may experience suicidal tendencies.
Another essential aspect besides strategy development is understanding common maintenance processes of depression. Their criticality in the treatment of this psychological deviation lies in the fact that negative moods, prejudices, and negative impulses are in direct relationship with each other. This is what forms undesirable behavior and inadequate assessments of the individual towards himself. Moreover, these three aspects can further lead to passivity and a decrease in motivation to perform any actions and make even the most straightforward decisions. It also contributes to the maintenance and rooting of a bad mood, as the patient has sad thoughts due to the fact that the usual does not cause satisfaction. The last factor that determines the importance of common maintenance processes is that depressive biases and symptoms can lead to a reluctance to take action in order to cope with problems. It also leads to increased hopelessness and thus increases the depressive state.
Therefore, taking into account the above factors, it is necessary to determine the primary maintenance cycles that can be applied to all cases of depression. They are the ways to develop a simple schematic formula for this process. Thus, automatic negative thinking, reflections, or the attack itself, refusal or evasion stand out among the processes, behavior, mood, motivation, and physical symptoms (Kennerley et al., 2017). All these aspects can be interpreted in different ways according to the complexity and strength of the patient’s disease. Moreover, they form feedback loops around the central experience, which is a depressive disorder. Although not all depressed clients will experience all these problems, common maintenance processes deserve a separate study when working with the investigated psychological disorder.
This part of the paper considers a possible case with a client experiencing major depression. One of the crucial parts of working with patients who suffer from severe depressive disorder is the choice of speech (Huang et al., 2019). That is, a specialist should choose words very carefully and thoughtfully when communicating with such a person (Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy, 2014b). Thus, the case study of this work becomes an example of a patient who is experiencing major depression.
Step 1
A man who suffers from severe and prolonged depression turned to a specialist. The main concern of this patient is the concern that the disorder prevents him from living an entire life. Describes a hypothetical client suffering from depression. Among the disease symptoms, the patient experiences loss of interest in daily activities, absence of appetite, distorted sleep, constantly feeling down and unworthy of anyone’s attention, and suicidal thoughts. Thus, the initial problem for solving the problem becomes a gradual work on relief from the symptoms of depression and finding the cause of the disorder.
Step 2
The next step will be to present the cognitive model and how it can be applied to the patient who has asked for help. These can be behavioral or simple cognitive strategies that will help ensure the smoothest transition and easier adaptation. Behavioral activation, which implies provoking emotions through particular behavior, will help to improve the possible results and course of treatment (Martell et al., 2021). This strategy will help the patient to separate and let go of negative, depressive thoughts (Beck & Haigh, 2014). One of the reasons for the patient’s problems is a negative experience in childhood and problems with socialization at an early age.
Step 3
The main component of treatment is the reduction of symptoms of depressive disorder. Activity scheduling and behavioral activation will be used for this task. It is essential to develop an activity schedule, which is a list of actions developed by a specialist that the patient must independently follow (Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy, 2014a). It is worth noting that a positive trend is seen precisely when the patient takes the initiative to introduce new items into it.
At an early stage of the plan, it is essential to ensure the patient’s comfort and implement activity monitoring. It concentrates on creating a daily activity plan for the client that he needs to follow, for example, having a thirty-minute walk every day. Thought journaling as a cognitive strategy means keeping a diary for specific fragments of time, and subsequent reflection, for example, at the end of each week, can be implemented. The treatment can also include visiting a specialist twice a week for talks to understand the root of the problem. It is also important to refocus the patient on the positive aspects of life and the importance of socialization as a part of behavior activation.
References
Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy. (2014a). Behavioral experiments in cognitive therapy [Video]. YouTube. Web.
Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy. (2014b).Cognitive restructuring in CBT [Video]. YouTube. Web.
Beck, A. T., & Haigh, E. A. P. (2014). Advances in cognitive theory and therapy: The generic cognitive model. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 10, 1-24.
Huang, Z., Epps, J., & Joachim, D. (2019). Investigation of speech landmark patterns for depression detection. IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing.
Kennerley, H., Kirk, J., & Westbrook, D. (2017). An introduction to cognitive behaviour therapy: Skills and applications (3rd ed.). Sage Publications.
Martell, C. R., Dimidjian, S., & Herman-Dunn, R. (2021). Behavioral activation for depression: A clinician’s guide. Guilford Publications.