10 Types of Therapy for Depression

Living with depression can take a toll on both your mental and physical health, causing sadness and a loss of interest in daily activities. But you can feel better with treatment. Here are 10 types of therapy for depression.

The idea behind CBT is that psychological problems stem from unhelpful thinking patterns and learned behaviors. Treatment focuses on learning healthier ways of coping. Besides depression, mental health professionals use CBT to treat anxiety and other conditions.

DBT is a form of talk therapy based on cognitive behavioral therapy. It’s for people who have intense emotions. Like CBT, it focuses on changing unhelpful behaviors, while also balancing it with an acceptance of the behavior. DBT is for people with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other mental health conditions.

IPT focuses on how relationship problems or stressful life events can trigger or worsen mental health symptoms. A therapist can help you recognize these stressors and find ways to improve them. This type of therapy may work to treat depression, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, anxiety, trauma, and substance misuse.

This talk therapy helps you understand how your unconscious thoughts, emotions, and early life history shape your behavior and relationships today. It focuses on spotting and resolving past conflicts that may play a role in mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. Your therapist may combine psychodynamic therapy with other types of therapy.

Behavioral activation therapy is a skill related to CBT that doctors use alone or with other CBT skills to treat depression, PTSD, anxiety, chronic pain, eating disorders, and other conditions. BAT focuses on understanding how certain behaviors impact your mood and how to gain skills to improve your emotional well-being.

EMDR uses techniques such as guided eye movements to help your brain process harmful memories, which can lead to symptoms of PTSD and other conditions. Some early research suggests that EMDR may help with depression, but scientists need to do more research. Current guidelines don’t yet suggest EMDR for depression.

PST is a type of cognitive behavioral treatment that helps you to better handle stress and life challenges. The idea is that how you deal with stress can affect your mental health. PST teaches emotional, thinking, and behavior-based skills to help you approach and solve real-life problems. Doctors use this therapy to treat mental health conditions.

MBCT combines mindfulness meditation with cognitive therapy techniques to help you manage mood problems like depression. It teaches you to recognize thought patterns that lead to feeling down and to relate to them in a healthier way.

Somatic therapy is a newer type of mental health treatment for depression, PTSD, and other conditions that focuses on the impact of trauma on your body. Experts suggest that your body stores your experiences and emotions, trapping unresolved feelings. Somatic therapy helps you release these emotions through acupressure, hypnosis, and other techniques.

In group therapy, a mental health professional leads a group of around five to 15 people. They usually focus on one issue, such as depression, substance abuse, or anxiety. Group therapy can offer you a support network, practical problem-solving, and can help hold you accountable.