The Role of Psychotherapy in Managing Anxiety and Depression

The Role of Psychotherapy in Managing Anxiety and Depression

The Wide Spectrum of Anxiety and Depression

The terms “anxiety” and “depression” cover a wide range of symptoms. Occasional anxiety linked to a specific situation (e.g,. public speaking, asking someone for a date) is very different than daily chronic anxiety that arises for no obvious reason. Similarly, depression can follow a specific life circumstance (e.g., loss of an important relationship) or appear out of nowhere. Both anxiety and depression can be brief or long-lasting, constant or intermittent, and mild to incapacitating in severity.

Given this wide spectrum, “anxiety” and “depression” are generic starting points, not endpoints, in determining the best way to get relief.

When to Seek Professional Help

People often handle mild, short-term anxiety and low moods without professional help. The negative feelings may pass on their own or can be eased with supportive friends and family, self-care, and positive activities.

But this may fall short when emotional symptoms are more severe or persistent. Then it’s time to seek evaluation by a mental health professional. This evaluation sharpens the symptom picture and puts it in the context of the client’s life, leading to treatment recommendations customized for the individual.

Treatments for Anxiety and Depression

The two main kinds of treatment for anxiety and depression are psychiatric medication and psychotherapy. (Less common medical alternatives for very severe or “treatment resistant” cases won’t be discussed here.)

Psychiatric medications offer relief for most patients during the time they are taken. But they stop working when discontinued — there’s no lasting effect. Also, they purely treat symptoms, just as Tylenol lowers a fever without addressing its cause. Medications cannot get to the root of any emotional problem, since no “chemical imbalance” has been found to explain depression or any other psychiatric condition.

To treat anxiety and mood symptoms along with their underlying cause, many such conditions are best treated with psychotherapy, either alone or in combination with medication.

How Psychotherapy Can Help

Psychotherapists view anxiety and depression much as physicians view fever: a nonspecific sign that something is wrong. Just as a medical doctor treats a fever AND seeks its source, psychotherapists treat anxiety and depression AND seek their source.

Psychotherapy gradually reveals the complex landscape of the client’s thoughts and feelings, and helps to uncover psychological conflicts or particular sensitivities that lie under the surface. Bringing these into the light reduces the driving force behind the surface symptoms of anxiety or depression.

In addition, speaking in confidence with a nonjudgmental, caring professional is often relieving in itself. Feeling heard and understood by another person can be healing. The one-to-one therapy encounter models a healthy interpersonal relationship, where the client can be genuine, and feel accepted without criticism or shame.

To Recap…

Anxiety and depression are common but non-specific emotional symptoms. They arise for many reasons. Professional evaluation is indicated when these feelings persist, or are more than mild in severity.

Following a detailed evaluation, a mental health professional will suggest the treatment(s) that best fit the client and their particular type of anxiety or depression.

Psychiatric medication can ease anxiety and/or depressed mood without addressing their cause. Sometimes symptomatic treatment is enough. Often, though, psychotherapy, conducted in a nonjudgmental setting of attention, empathy, and concern, reveals the source of the troubling feelings.

Unlike psychiatric medication used alone, the benefits of psychotherapy persist after treatment ends, and are not limited narrowly to the anxiety or depression that prompted treatment in the first place. Psychotherapy examines the client’s whole emotional life. There is often much more going on than the anxiety or depression alone.

If you happen to be on this site for help with anxiety or depression, you’re in a great place.  Psychotherapy Action Network is a nonprofit organization of thousands of mental health professionals and related organizations and agencies, all of whom are dedicated to “therapy that sticks,” and to helping people just like you know that real, lasting relief is possible. To browse our directory of psychotherapists who may be able to help you, visit our directory.