l quality of life. They need to learn to recognize the early signs of relapse, cope with anger and shame, revive career and heal family relationships. They also need to learn to change habits developed during their illness, such as social withdrawal and excessive dependence. When the therapist employs Behavior Therapy, they begin to assist the client to discover what activities are rewarding which will get them to isolate less. Consequently they will feel less depressed. Cognitive Therapy compliments behavioral therapy with training clients to recognize their faulty ways of thinking. The therapist helps the client to break down pessimistic thoughts so the client can become aware of the ways they develop their thinking patterns. The therapist can also coach the client by rehearsing skills that relieve and prevent depression (relaxation techniques). They can help clients to also rehearse mentally to meet important challenges or conquer fears. An analysis of the evidence of the efficacy of CBT This article states that it is difficult to judge the efficacy of CBT because a double-blind experiment (where no one knows who has taken the sugar pill) is impossible. The author of the article suggest that the improvements in CBT (as well as other therapies) are the result of “prolonged attention of an authoritative person who restores the patient’s morale with comforting explanations that helps the client make sense of his troubles (p. 6).” The author even took it one step further and said that research conducted with carefully selected clients and highly trained therapists cannot give accurate results because the same procedures cannot be replicated under ordinary conditions. This author also calls for a better understanding of the causes and treatments of mood disorders. He said that there are currently four large research studies that are examining the patient’s overall improvement in their quality of life rat...
