Depression in adults: what is it and how is it treated in psychological therapy?

What is depression in adults and how can it be treated in the psychologist's office? Let's take a look at it

Depression is a mood disorder that manifests itself differently depending on the age of the person, as this conditions many of our habits and characteristics. In this article we will see what depression in adults is like and how it can be treated with the help of professionals.

And precisely because this psychological disorder is expressed through our ability to enjoy life, its symptoms manifest themselves differently depending on the age of the person, as this conditions many of our habits and characteristics. In this article we will see how depression in adults is and how it can be treated with the help of professionals.

What does adult depression look like?

Depression in adults is a relatively common mood disorder, and in fact is estimated to affect about 200 million people around the world.

The symptoms, among many others, for which it is characterized are basically abulia (extreme lack of motivation and lack of energy to do most of the daily activities necessary to live well, such as cooking, showering, going out to work, etc.), anhedonia (inability to experience pleasure) and an intense feeling of sadness, melancholy or hopelessness.

In addition, the adult population is more flexible in finding strategies for communicating how they feel, so age also contributes to the development of a more flexible approach. In addition, the adult population is more flexible in finding strategies for communicating what they are feeling, so age also brings diversity in the way they verbalize the problem and explain it to friends, family and mental health professionals.

The help of psychologists: treatment of adult depression

Here are some of the main strategies that psychologists use to conduct psychotherapy for adult depression.

1. Acting on ideas and behavioral patterns

The psychology centers with the most effective approach to treating depression in adults use tools that allow them to intervene both in the way the patient perceives and interprets reality, and in the set of actions that he or she usually uses to interact with the environment and with others.

For example, the Psicomaster psychology center, located in the center of Madrid, uses several related types of therapy that allow it to do this: Psychotherapy Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and EMDR.

The first is one of the most widely used forms of psychotherapy to intervene in many mental disorders, and focuses on a twofold path to improvement: helping the person to learn healthier and more useful behavioral patterns, so as not to reinforce the presence of the mental disorder by interacting with our surroundings to avoid reinforcing the presence of the mental disorder through interaction with our surroundings, and to modify the ideas and beliefs strongly rooted in the patient and that prevent him/her from perceiving reality in a constructive and emotionally balanced way.

When Psicomaster uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, the objective is also to influence actions, thoughts and beliefs, but adapting the treatment to the context in which the patient lives adapting the treatment to the context in which each individual patient lives. and helping him/her to accept the imperfection of many aspects of life and of what it implies to exist in it, so that he/she contributes to change what can be solved and learns to embrace the imperfections that cannot be changed or do not depend on us.

In this way, we unlearn ways of thinking, feeling and acting that cause the symptoms of depression to be reproduced over and over again in adults, and we learn other habits that allow us to live better.

2. Patient activation

It is very important for the adult patient to get out of the dynamic of passivity and sedentary life habits in which he/she has settled because of depression. For this reason, a set of strategies called a set of strategies called Behavioral Activationwhich aims to create the situations and contexts necessary for the patient to engage in stimulating activities with the ability to involve the whole body.

The idea here is not to have blind faith in the person's willpower and hope that motivation will serve to mobilize him/her and engage in hobbies, but to do something so that the patient is more exposed to stimulating situations with the capacity to generate interest and get him/her "hooked" on a task or set of tasks: going out to the park to play sports, tending a garden, walking in unfamiliar areas of the city, etc.

3. Working with the family and close circle

Another of the courses of action undertaken in specialized centers such as Psicomaster has to do with networking with the patient's family and close circle. Even if the person affected by adult depression has already left childhood behind, the role of their loved ones is still very relevant, not least because the disorder itself causes them to lose autonomy.

The fact that psychologists coordinate with the patient's family helps to ensure that those who suffer from depression at first hand continue to have support and a guide for action once they have left the consultation room, between psychotherapy sessions.

Thus, the specialists inform the families about how to live with an adult with depression, how to deal with the presence of the pathology, how to treat it, and how to treat the presence of the pathology how to deal with the presence of the pathology in conversations, what kind of actions to follow in order to encourage the person to keep moving and to get involved in relationships with others, etc.

4. Intervention on the sources of anxiety

It is very frequent that depression in adults does not appear in an isolated way, but that it arises at the same time as other harmful psychological disorders. Anxiety disorders and the experience of psychological trauma are among the most frequent psychological phenomena that overlap with extremely low mood, and often the cause of depression is related to these other problems.

That is why, in well-equipped psychology centers such as Psicomaster, there are professionals who are experts in treating all these types of overlapping disorders. For example, if depression is linked to psychological trauma, EMDR therapy or systematic desensitization can be used therapy or systematic desensitization can be used to make the source of discomfort from which the trauma manifests itself disappear, while at the same time intervening in the depression itself.

Conclusion

Depression in adults is a mood disorder that is complex in the way it expresses itself in patients, and because of its potential to wear down people's quality of life or even to foster suicidal ideation, it deserves to be addressed by professionals.

As much as we have been educated to assume that adult life is full of difficult moments and sacrifices, depression is a very serious pathology that cannot be normalized. The sooner action is taken when the first symptoms are detected, the better.