Major Depressive Disorder Treatment, Research Paper Example

Adults particularly face different sources of life’s stresses. Relatively, these particular stress stimuli specifically affect the way they think, the way they manage their lives and basically the way they behave towards themselves and others. At some point, not being able to control such occurrences, pressures and frustrations cause the emergence of depression among adults. According to the Ministry of Health and Consumers’ Affairs (2008) report, adults often experience depression which makes the said matter rather common among individuals reaching this stage of life. The reason behind the emergence of depressive state among individuals under this stage is the fact that they are faced with different issues that makes life a little bit more challenging than expected. Family issues, personal and familial responsibilities, career frustrations and other concerns often define the process by which individuals become highly consumed to the idea of becoming overly concerned about life that at some point they become depressed over not being able to reach the goals they may have set for themselves. Depression, however have different forms. There is the normal form of depression and another considered to be more serious that often causes mental instability and some other physical health issues. Depressive states like these are often considered to be related to MDD or Major Depressive Disorder which often distorts the deciding capabilities of individuals in their adult-stage of living. Some of the individuals undergoing this particular issue develop clusters of physical problems that often make the situation harder to deal with. Not being able to considerably deal with this issue specifically makes life harder for the sufferer especially for the family members who are affected by the said irregularities of one’s emotions and psychological conditions. It is for this reason that the study of psychology and the professionals refining its consistent use in practical consideration over human behavior development has created several procedures that are dedicated to attending to the needs of people suffering from MDD.

In line with this, the research proposed herein intends to measure the effects of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) versus Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) on adults diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). It is hypothesized that adults will see decreased symptoms of MDD via DBT versus CBT. CBT is basically considered under the condition by which the clients or patients are incited to undergo a series of therapeutic procedures involving talk therapy. Relatively, it is used to deal with patients undergoing dysfunctional emotions that are most often than not related to the consideration over particular goal frustrations. The reason why this particular therapy is considered effective is the fact that it depends on the capability of the patients to incur development especially when it comes to dealing with issues of emotional discontent. It is believed by experts using this particular form of therapy that patients have the capability to handle their depressive situations based on their own emotional management procedures. The process of involving the patients in the situation that they are in and helping them reflect on their own condition would make it easier for them to recover from the issues that they have been involved in. Through this, the therapy intends to create a holistic approach in helping the patients recover from their situation depending on their own process of development.

On the other end, dialectical behavior therapy is a process that specifically deals with the need of the therapists to directly mediate on the process by which the clients or the patients recover from their depressive conditions. Marsha Linehan, the researcher who discovered this process of therapeutic approach, has observed how some therapists have been burned out in dealing with the concerns of their patients who have not been fully cooperative in the process. Likely, it is the desire of the therapists to assist the patients to recover fast that makes them a little bit frustrated over the case, hence resulting to further pressure. Through this approach, Linehan suggests that therapists adjust to the situation of their patients in a more natural manner hence creating a specific line that makes it easier for both parties to respond to each other’s needs; the need of the patient to recover, and the need of the therapist to achieve success from the process of giving assistance to the clients they are attending to. Forming an alliance between the therapist and the patient is believed by Linehan to provide a great source of confidence that could both spur out reliability and trust that the both parties need in order to completely solve a particular case. There are currently two forms of DBT approaches used by psychological therapists today:

1. Individual therapy- in this case the patient is expected to come in for a regular therapy session. The therapist then insists on the creation of a target treatment hierarchy that is directed towards honing the behavior of the individual from a more negative stance towards a more positive one. Providing the patient a chance to experience the skill of self management, the therapists gradually allows the patient to improve on himself and create a more responsive approach that would define his personal desire to recover from the situation.
2. Group therapy- this form of therapy is more dedicated to providing the clients a chance to interact with others. Seeing themselves in the position of others and understanding how well endowed they are in comparison with the situation of other is expected to create a better sense of self-definition to each patient hence allowing them to define a line of their own personality. This is expected to reduce the pressure of any frustration or disappointment that could be aggravating their situation and their depression. The core rational definition of this part of the process is dependent on the need of a person to adjust to others, to be mindful of how he conducts himself towards others, to create an interpersonal effectiveness that establishes a chance for one to regulate his emotions and tolerate stress in a more effective manner.

Both procedures are applied in all patients undergoing the DBT therapy in a hierarchical consideration. The perception over the need to tolerate stress comes after the establishment of one’s self-identity. It is basically highlighted through this approach that before one would be able to effectively handle social connection, he should first be able to handle persona conditions that often jeopardize his capability to decide on matters properly without being overly affected by stressful events in life. The idea of the process to basically set a course of balance that would identify the capability of one to manage his own first before he could manage how he deals with other individuals in the community. Slowly and gradually assisting the patients into becoming more cautious about their behavior based on personal assessment and social connection is the basic foundation of DBT. At this point, the therapists stand as motivators instead of as directors, they stand as allies instead of managers that simply put pressure on the need to recover. This approach specifically recognizes the need of each patient to know that they are being specifically cared for by the therapists as individuals and not as mere clients.

Of Question is, which really is more effective in dealing with MDD among adult individuals? To be able to test the reliability of both approaches, this research proposes to establish an experiment-based study that would put both procedures into test. The independent variables in the study will be DBT and CBT. Furthermore, the independent variables presented will be broken down into 2 control groups: Treatment with DBT and treatment with CBT. The dependent variable will be decreased depressive symptoms of MDD in adults receiving either DBT or CBT over a period of at least 12 weeks. The population to be studied will consist of at least 50 male and female adults diagnosed with MDD.

Major Depressive disorder is operationally defined by the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) CITE as well as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Addition Revis0065d (DSM-IV-R) (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). This means that the seriousness of the case reaches the consideration over the need to be handled carefully by professionals who have great command over the issue concerned. With people being uniquely different from each other, it is expected that each individual has a different process of responding to a particular stressing situation in life. In relation to this, this research hopes to create a definitive ground of comparison between the utilization of DBT and CBT among patients that have MDD based on actual experimentation involving actual participants who are undergoing such a serious kind of depression that affects both their mental and physical capabilities of dealing with both the basic and crucial stages of life’s challenges that adults face in their lives.

References

Dobson KS (June 1989). “A meta-analysis of the efficacy of cognitive therapy for depression”. J Consult Clin Psychol 57 (3): 414–9.

Lynch, D.; Laws, K. R.; McKenna, P. J. (2009). “Cognitive behavioural therapy for major psychiatric disorder: does it really work? A meta-analytical review of well-controlled trials”. Psychological medicine 40 (1): 1–16.

Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs. (1998). Clinical Practice Guideline on the Management of Major Depression in Adults. http://www.guiasalud.es/GPC/GPC_424_Adults_Dep_compl_en.pdf. (Retrieved on March 16, 2012).

McKay, Matthew. Dialectical Behavior Therapy Workbook: Practical DBT Exercises for Learning Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation, & Distress Tolerance. New Harbinger Self-Help Workbook.

DeVylder, JE (2010). Dialectical Behavior Therapy for the Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder: An Evaluation of the Evidence. International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation. Vol 15(1) 61-70