Psychological counseling

Psychological counseling (psychotherapy) by a psychiatrist, psychologist or other mental health professional can be very effective. For many people, psychotherapy combined with medication works best. It can help identify underlying concerns that may be adding to your depression. In working with your therapist, you can also learn specific behaviors and strategies to overcome your depression. For example, psychotherapy can help you:

• Find better ways to cope with life's challenges
• Deal with past emotional trauma
• Manage relationships in a healthier way
• Learn how to reduce the effects of stress in your life
• Address substance use issues

If counseling doesn't seem helpful, talk to your psychotherapist about trying a different approach. Or consider seeing someone else. As with medications, it may take several tries to find a treatment that works. Psychotherapy for depression may include:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy. This common type of counseling addresses thoughts, feelings and behaviors that affect your mood. It helps you identify and change distorted or negative thinking patterns and teaches you skills to respond to life's challenges in a positive way.
• Acceptance and commitment therapy. A form of cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy helps you to engage in positive behaviors, even when you have negative thoughts and emotions. It's designed for treatment-resistant conditions.
• Interpersonal psychotherapy. Interpersonal psychotherapy focuses on resolving relationship issues that may contribute to your depression.
• Family or marital therapy. This type of therapy involves family members or your spouse or partner in counseling. Working out stress in your relationships can help with depression.
• Dialectical behavioral therapy. This type of therapy helps you build acceptance strategies and problem-solving skills. This is useful for chronic suicidal thoughts or self-injury behaviors, which sometimes accompany treatment-resistant depression.
• Group psychotherapy. This type of counseling involves a group of people who struggle with depression working together with a psychotherapist.
• Mindfulness. Mindfulness involves paying attention and accepting one's thoughts and feelings without judging them as "right" or "wrong" in a given moment.
• Behavioral activation. This type of treatment works with depressed individuals to gradually decrease their avoidance and isolation and increase their engagement in activities that they once enjoyed or activities that have been shown to improve mood.