Brief Psychotherapy of Depression

Abstract

Most individual psychotherapy falls under the rubric of brief or short-term treatment and this chapter will address its application in depression. Together with anxiety, depression is one of the fundamental human reactions of conflict and distress, so much so that in ordinary parlance unhappiness and depression are practically synonymous. With its broad range of gradations and its variety of manifestations depression is perhaps the most common of psychiatric conditions. It is seen with great frequency, not only by the psychiatrist but also, of course, by the general physician or for that matter by anyone who has occasion to deal professionally with emotionally upset persons.