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Basically, it helps you change your behavior and routines and the way you think - rather than the old-fashioned therapy where you dwelled on why you're depressed, like focusing on your bad childhood, etc. With CBT, it doesn't spend time on why you're depressed or your bad childhood, etc. It just focuses on actions you can take to get you out of depression or keep you from being depressed, etc. It basically starts with "Okay, you're depressed. What actions can you take to feel better?"
For instance, changing your routine - take a shower, go for a walk, get a pet, write in your journal, change your diet, get more sleep, use a meditation app - actual actions you can take to feel better. Even if it's a tiny step at first - for instance, if you don't have the energy to take a shower AND take a walk, then just put on a hat and walk around the block.
Maybe get instant oatmeal to eat and throw in some fresh blueberries - instead of eating something less healthy.
And one of my favorite mental exercises is "fact checking." For instance, if your mind says "I'm such a loser, nobody wants to be around me," then you get out your journal and write - Am I a loser? Well, if you have a bachelor's degree, it's hard to say you're a loser. After all, you're educated and must be pretty intelligent. And is it true nobody wants to be around you? If you have someone who would be willing to have lunch with you, etc., then that's not true, either.
Basically, you use these tools to thwart the part of your mind that wants to be depressed. It takes effort, to be sure, and the results don't come overnight. But, it does work.
An article (it's Psychology today, not a scholarly journal or anything, but it gives an easily digestible overview) on the changes in treatment protocols over the years, and over the course of countless studies...it discusses different approaches historically used, and pros and cons.
For a long time, meds were the common refrain. Then CBT and its associated subcategories of therapies came into more common use for depression, and showed a high degree of positive outcomes, and the tide began to shift, as it always does in a field where constant research is ongoing.
Overall, the prevailing current best practices for positive outcomes in treating mild-moderate depression are therapies that fall under the Cognitive-Behavioral umbrella (which encompasses a number of treatment models). In the case of severe depressive symptoms, it isn't uncommon to do a combined approach of pharmacological treatment and CBT. Some feel that doubling up on meds and therapy in the case of less severe depression is akin to going after a centipede with an elephant gun. There are providers who are staunchly pro-meds, ones who are staunchly anti-meds, and some (most) who fall in the middle ground and explore medication options judiciously and on a case-by-case basis.
How do you fix depression and over thinking in adults? I'm kind of stuck in this loop of constant depression and sometimes happiness on the weekends
What I sometimes do is I try to picture somebody else I care about having this problem. Then I make a list of advice I would give them. Next, I come up with a common idea within all of the advice and start there.
It's impossible to give you a good answer when you provide so little information. If you're depressed about the death of a spouse, it's a very different situation if you're depressed about being passed over for a promotion.
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