Depression is caused by chemical disbalance in the brain, how come cognitive behavioral therapy can work for depression? How does this work? Does this mean our thoughts affect our chemicals in our brain?
In: Biology
The biological model for depression is just a theory and not a well proven one at that. Psychiatrists wouldn’t know the scientific method if it slapped its beautiful science titties in their faces. Ok maybe I’m biased lol
So the biological basis of depression generally goes that because anti depressants called serotonin reuptake inhibitors work, depression must be a lack of serotonin. That’s a bad way to start a theory.
Most depressions are environmental eg, grief, lost a job, end of relationships etc. And never require intervention, they only last 6 months ish and are appropriate.
Clinical depressions is when it lasts longer that 6 months or is inappropriate eg, no environmental cause. There’s also post partum depression but that’s a whole other kettle of fish because that’s lots of different hormones and environmental changes.
what do you mean by effective? Is CBT effective? I’d say its not. Not very anyway. Efficacy rates are varied and depend on the individual. It can be useful at creating coping skills and resilience to symptoms, not curing them.
For more info, this isn’t behind a paywall:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3584580/?_escaped_fragment_=po
Latest Answers