Depression & Anxiety: Brief Therapy Approaches

by Pacific Brief Therapy Center

INTRODUCTION: In my personal and professional experience, l, and others, are anxious or depressed for good reasons. So helping clients to solve the problems or concerns that are bringing the pain of anxiety and depression as well as relieving the symptoms seems sensible.

Where brief therapy approaches have an edge is that we know how to solve problems and often rather quickly.

A.     Check for suicidal ideation and relevant family history of anxiety and depression and suicide. Consider using a suicide assessment scale.

B.     Discern the details of how anxiety and depression are expressed by the client. How often? Where? When? Who is present i.e., what is the immediate context in which the symptoms occur?

C. How are depression and/or anxiety a problem?

D. Cautions with prescribing the symptom.

E. How the therapist makes this intervention.

F. Using B. above to plan and deliver the intervention.

G. Examples of Therapeutic Double Binds:

1.    Patient at Dammasch State Hospital hallucinationg his psychiatrist in the mirror.

2.    Exhibitionist problem solved.

H. Interventions with Metaphors

I.. Video of brief therapy treatment of anxiety and depression.

Jj. Questions & Answers