How is cognitive therapy different from simply telling people to cheer up?
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Depression and numerous conditions have a physiological cause and it is not always about your mood or how you perceive a situation that causes your down cycle. Ultimately, it is about
* self-awareness and learning to recognize the symptoms that lead up to depression or even a manic episode.
* learning the techniques that work for you to pivot or redirect your thoughts to mitigate the depth or impact of the episode
Just telling someone to cheer up doesn’t give them the tools to do so if they already don’t know how. It also helps to ensure that you understand how much medicine helps and how much you can help yourself – and how the two can work in tandem to improve your quality of life (although, admittedly, this is the end goal that few get to).
If mine told me to cheer up, I’d find another one and fast. Rather, she’s been able to look at the issue(s) and think of a way of making them less impactful. I have had other that have shown as much interest as me reading off my shopping list.
My only complaint about cbt is that it challenges thoughts without identifying beliefs that cause them, and seems to take a pruning approach, rather than a pulling out by the roots approach, so you end up a little better manicured but you have to keep grooming it, instead of the bad belief just being removed and replaced with what’s true.
Not whats comfortable or useful to believe, but what is actually true
It tends to still allow people to cling to lies that do not serve them and instead only helps them manage the lies they believe so they show up in their external life less. But does nothing for the internal
They use platitudes and sayings that are sometimes close to the truth and soothing and temporarily helpful but that are ultimately lies and don’t allow the person to recognize and solve their problem, but actively prevents it, by presenting encouraging lies as truth
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