Neuroscience of Psychotherapy for Depression

For the psychoeducation session, the focus is for the therapist to engage with the client regarding mental health broadly without a targeted effort to reinforce therapeutic alliance or to offer individualized guidance or techniques. The session will provide educational information on depression, depression symptoms and known causes, and strategies to reduce depression symptoms. The content will be delivered in a fashion to avoid individualization and psychotherapeutic exchange. The elements will focus on components of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), differentiating between thoughts and feelings, common cognitive shortcuts, and the connection between behavior and emotion.

Behavioral Activation (BA) is a psychotherapy treatment modality used for depression and focuses on replacing maladaptive coping mechanism that reinforce depressive symptoms with adaptive coping mechanisms to increase exposure to positive reinforcement. The treatment will consist of the following elements: Introduction to establish concept of positive reinforcement and build rapport, identification of client-centered values, individualized values-based activity planning and scheduling, and developing adaptive coping strategies for the future.