The author of the article “ Behavioral Activation: the Depression Therapy You've Likely Never Heard Of “argues that depression is one of the major issues that affect the quality of everyday life of people (Schroeder, 2016). Cognitive has been established as gold standard within psychotherapy to manage depression, and at the same time change, an individual’s negative thoughts that to some extent might contribute towards mood disorder. The author further states that a changed mind is critical since it enables an individual to immediately get back in the normal moods terming it as “an ‘inside out treatment” (Schroeder, 2016). It is important for people to change the way they think to effectively alter their mood. From the article, there is a simple therapy referred to as Behavioral Activation that further overlaps with the CBT’s behavioral component and can be used effectively in the treatment of depression.
To support his point of view, the author argued that Behavioral Activation has been established as a treatment that teaches individuals that whatever they do and their mood are closely connected, therefore, by changing one’s behavior then the mood can also be modified. Behavioral Activation will teach clients to realize when they are depressed and when that depression will become passive and inactive. According to Schroeder (2016), upon noticing depression, an individual then learns ways to engage in various activities that meet their needs such as spending time with family and friends and exercise. Numerous studies have supported the use of Behavioral Activation to treat depression, however; this form of treatment has been given little consideration given contemporary focus on the cognitive therapies. Behavioral Activation has widely been recommended to all individuals with depression especially, the underserved, and the low-income individuals (Schroeder, 2016). Behavioral Activation is a less involved approach compared to most of the traditional forms of psychotherapy and to support this argument Kanter stated that “It’s very pragmatic; it’s very focused on what are your goals – how can we help you achieve your goals.” The approach has also been shown to be cost efficient and can quickly reach those individuals who might not access depression treatment. Kanter further went on to argue that, “There are big disparities in access to mental health care for minorities in the United States, [and] there’s growing research suggesting behavioral activation is a good fit for minority patients as well” (Schroeder, 2016). Therefore, Behavioral Activation focuses on changing the behavior of an individual to treat depression.
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Focusing on the student’s assumption with regards to the article point of view, it is clear that behavioral activation can be applied effectively to treat depression. It is evident that when one engages in various physical activities such as going to the gym, the level of depression reduces significantly (Cuijpers, Van Straten & Warmerdam, 2007). Therefore, the article point of view about behavioral activation makes a lot of sense. On the other hand, focusing on authors’ assumption that behavioral activation cane bee adopted effectively to manage depression a lot makes a lot of sense. The author argued that this is a formal therapy to manage depression and focuses on various activities scheduling to encourage an individual to engage in different activities that they avoid mostly and at the same time analyze the cognitive processes’ functions believed to serve as an avoidance form. It is clear that the author’s argument holds water in this case because behavioral activation therapy is most suitable when managing depression and can be adopted both for in-patient and out-patient settings.
There are numerous studies and research that has been conducted in this field which supports the article’s point of view. According to Cuijpers, Van Straten & Warmerdam, (2007), behavioral activation has been reported to be firmly grounded in the learning theory in addition to the contextual functionalism. The primary focus is entirely on the entire event and variables that significantly influences occurrences of various unhelpful responses including overt behavior and cognitive processes. In this case, the contextualization will take a pragmatic approach focusing on what exactly predicts the unhelpful response by numerous reinforcers that tend to prevent an individual from attaining his or her goals. Research has pointed out that behavioral activation is simply a third generation behavioral therapy that can be used in treating depression (Cuijpers, Van Straten & Warmerdam, 2007). It is further considered as a part of the functional analytic psychotherapies based on Skinnerian psychological, behavioral change model. Recent behavioral activation review studies related to depression has established a sound effect hence the need for the policy makers to consider it as one of the most effective depression treatment.
In addition to this, large-scale treatment research has established that behavioral activation is very efficient compared to the cognitive therapy and is one of the most effective medications for treating depression. A recent meta-analysis study that comprised of a 34 randomized control trial established that behavioral activation treatment for depression among adults showed a significant beneficial effect compared to the control participants and those treated with CT/CBT (Cuijpers, Van Straten & Warmerdam, 2007). Additionally, at the post-treatment within the same research, there was no statistical difference between the treatment groups. Additionally, the Behavioral Activation treatment further showed a medium post-treatment effect size among the participants compared to the psychotherapy and other treatments options. Another study established that the effective ingredient found in CBT for the treatment of depression had a similar effect as the use of behavioral activation in treatment of depression. Additionally, it was argued that the therapy was as efficacious as most of the antidepressant medications but had a significant advantage over CT when it comes to the treatment of both moderate and severe depression.
Focusing on issues relevance to the real world problems and solution, behavioral activation has recently been applied in the treatment of anxiety and has generated highly promising results. Additionally, it has further been implemented in the treatment of fibromyalgia-related pain anxiety resulting into a positive result. According to Cuijpers, Van Straten & Warmerdam, (2007), behavioral activation has been adopted in various fields both at home and at hospitals to manage depression. effectiveefficientThere is the need for more emphasis on the benefits of this therapy since it is considered highly cost efficient and efficient in the treatment of depression. The behavioral activation therapy is most suitable for various life events including trauma, daily life hustles and even biological predispositions to depression (Cuijpers, Van Straten & Warmerdam, 2007). There are numerous behaviors that an individual can adopt to cope effectively with negative feelings making an individual feel better both in the short-run and in the long-run. There are instances where an individual will feel sad such that he or she might never find pleasure in any activities that they previously enjoyed to cope by the withdrawing socially or even cease to take part in activities and shutting down. In this instance, behavioral activation can be employed and adapted effectively to manage the symptoms and treat depression. Behavioral activation, in this case, will target avoidance as the core problem.
Clarifying on the student’s point of view, numerous factors cause depression including heritability, individual behavior patterns, and environmental variables. To manage all types of depressions, behavioral activation has proven efficient and holds that particular context rather than focusing on the internal elements for instance cognition. When applied sufficiently, behavioral activation can help an individual to understand various environmental sources of depression clearly and thus can be used to target behaviors that to a greater extent might worse the depression condition. There are instances where n individual can lose interest to take part in any form of activities or withdraws from both the families and friends. In this case, sadness often will become a major part of an individual’s daily struggle because he or she will be engaged in a struggle fighting severe depression or other forms of mood disorders. In this case, behavioral activation can be necessary as a primary treatment to address these issues (Cuijpers, Van Straten & Warmerdam, 2007).
In conclusion, behavioral activation as a treatment for depression is founded on a theory that when a person becomes depressed he or she engages in an increasing avoidance and isolation and this further worsens the depression symptoms. The primary objective of this type of therapy is to work in close collaboration with depressed persons with the aim of decreasing their avoidance and isolation while at the same time improve their overall engagement in diverse activities that in some way can enhance their moods. In most occasions, therapists will use all activities that an individual used to enjoy before becoming depressed including exercising, improving family and friend’s relationship and learning and acquiring new skills and activities. It is, therefore, necessary for this type of therapy to be adopted and implemented in the management of therapies. It has been shown that majority of the people are not in a position to access various treatments for depression but can use behavioral activation since it is cost effective and easy to apply. The government has the duty to play regarding promoting the application of behavioral activation therapy among its citizens to improve the overall welfare of the country.
References
Cuijpers, P., Van Straten, A., & Warmerdam, L. (2007). Behavioral activation treatments of depression: A meta-analysis. Clinical psychology review , 27 (3), 318-326.
Schroeder , M.,(2016). Behavioral Activation: the Depression Therapy You've Likely Never Heard Of.Research finds a simple action-oriented approach is effective in treating the common mood disorder. Retrrived from:
http://health.usnews.com/wellness/mind/articles/2016-11-24/behavioral-activation- the-depression-therapy-youve-likely-never-heard-of
