How Support Therapy can help with Depression
Support therapy is another name for supportive psychotherapy. This is the therapy that every doctor undertakes in the doctor-patient encounter. This type of therapy is provided to a vast majority of the patients that are seen in psychiatric clinics and mental health centers.
What is Support Therapy and why do people suffering from depression suggested undertaking it?
Supportive therapy or psychotherapy is typically the very first form of treatment that is given to people suffering from depression. This is what normal people call “therapy”. However, support therapy typically involves a number of treatment approaches and techniques.
A typical session of support therapy can be conducted in both clinical and home-based settings. The doctors or psychotherapists in such cases talk to the patient to help in identifying the issues. This way the licensed and trained psychiatrist helps in working through the factors that are triggering depression. This is the main aim of supportive therapy too.
There can be different factors that can trigger depression-like:
· Stressful events
· Personality traits
· Family history
· Isolation
· Health conditions
· Alcohol and drugs
· Giving birth
The factor causing depression may vary. However, in all cases, factors work in combination with the chemical imbalances or heredity that trigger depression. Psychiatrists take care of the psychological and psychosocial aspects of depression by providing necessary treatment.
How Support Therapy does help with Depression?
Support therapy is a kind of talk therapy. The patient and psychotherapist talk about the issues of the patient. This talk therapy involves patient discussing their thoughts with trained therapists. Through this talk, the therapist helps the patient detect the pattern of thoughts triggering depression.
They create strategies to help patients identify and avoid the triggers exacerbating depression. This can include developing a definite coping mechanism for when they start experiencing triggers.
The therapists also give homework to the patients in some cases. For instance, they may be told to track their mood swings, and what triggers them and write them down. They also teach the patients necessary exercises that can help to reduce stress and depression. Most importantly, the therapist helps the patient to understand their condition.
This therapy type can help in resolving mild or moderate depression. It can be provided to treat severe depression too however for this, the therapists use support therapy with other treatments like medication or they can even go for natural remedies.
What are the steps in a Typical Support Therapy process?
If the whole process is put into simple words, the therapists use the following steps to help people with depression:
· Collaboratively understanding behavior, emotion, and ideas that contribute to their depressive state or trigger depression.
· Collaboratively identifying and understanding the causes and symptoms that can be the reason. For instance a major life illness, loss, and grief, isolation, alcohol or family history, etc. helping the patients to understand the aspects of these issues that may be able to solve or improve.
· Encouraging them to regain a sense of control, purpose, and pleasure in life.
· Developing and teaching the patients suitable coping techniques that they can apply when symptoms start to occur.
What are the types of settings in which Support Therapy can be provided?
Support therapy type actually depends on the context of the patient depression and his preference. For instance, many patients do not like to talk about their depression openly so individual therapy is provided to them. In such sessions, only the patient and therapist are involved.
At times, patients feel more comfortable when some other person participates with them in therapy. This other person can be a known one or someone suffering from the same condition. This therapy is called group therapy. At times, therapists just let the patients talk about their issues while listening to them too.
