CBT Explanation of the Major Cause of Depression

This video you are about to watch is a testimony how David Burns the author of the best-selling book Feeling Good came to realize the importance of training people to stop their distorted thinking in order to feel better. Burns said in his TED talk that as a psychiatrist he was dispensing medication to people with depression, but found many of them still struggling with depression after months of medication. This led him to try Aaron Beck’s Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). Later he developed his own manual for people who suffered from depression, anxiety and low self-esteem which became Feeling Good.

Today’s medications for depression have been improved and perhaps are more effective in controlling mood disorders, but as a psychotherapist seeing clients suffering from mood disorders, I agree completely that most people who struggle with depression and anxiety have one thing in common:  Their suffering is not primarily because of a certain event or what people have done to them, but because of how they perceive these people or circumstances. People become depressed from the story they tell themselves about these people or circumstances. They have a hard time thinking about reality without telling themselves these “stories.” No wonder the people who care for them sometimes have difficulty understanding what is happening to them. Their loved ones wonder why they cannot see the reality that there is a way out of their situation.  There is hope, and they have control over their lives.

To be able to get out of depression people need to change the way they think. They need to be able to be aware of their thoughts and identify the type of faulty thinking they are having. Then they must examine the evidence:  Is what they are thinking true? If they are having a hard time doing it by themselves, they might need to seek help from a counsellor who does Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT. Many people believe that the circumstance, other people or something outside of a person produce the reaction or feelings that are labeled depression. CBT teaches that your thoughts produce your mood or your behavior. So changing the type of thoughts you are thinking is the way to change your feelings or behavior and this is a practical and very effective way to deal with what a lot of people experience as depression