Behavioral Activation as a therapy against depression

One of the most useful therapeutic tools against depression.

Jacobson (1996) called Behavioral Activation (BA) to the programming of activities, applied together with cognitive intervention techniques, which allow improving some behavioral deficit or excess in the person.

It is a therapy aimed at the treatment of depression. a therapy aimed at the treatment of depression and that understands the behaviors of the person who suffers from it not only as a symptom, but as part of the essence and maintenance of the disorder.

What is Behavioral Activation?

Among the symptoms of depression, one of the most characteristic is inaction.This is part of a vicious circle in which the sufferer is immersed: the lack of activity affects the state of mind and, in the same way, the depressed state of mind produces a lack of activity. This relationship is the epicenter of the Behavioral Activation approach, which considers some types of depression as elaborated forms of avoidance.

The objective of this therapy, framed within the third generation therapies of the cognitive-behavioral current, and which is in itself a therapy proper, is that depressed patients can organize their lives and change their environment to reestablish their relationship with sources of stimulus that provide them with positive reinforcement..

Some of the interventions with behavioral activation methods, aimed at reducing depressive symptoms are: the hierarchization of tasks, the scheduling of life goals, the reinforcement of social contact behaviors and the performance of rewarding activities.

How does it work?

The therapy is fundamentally based on prescribing activities to break the dynamic of inactivity.. To be effective, especially at the beginning, it is necessary that the programming includes easy, rewarding activities (not only pleasurable, because we are looking for activities that are satisfying and require effort), gradual and very well planned, because, especially at the beginning of the program, it is easy for difficulties to arise in its implementation.

Current meta-analytic reviews (Cuijpers, van Straten, & Warmer-dam, 2007) and experimental work comparing different therapeutic approaches - Antidepressant medication, cognitive therapy and behavioral activation therapy - (Dimidjian et al., 2006) have revealed that purely behavioral interventions are sufficient for an efficient and effective approach to depressive disorders.

Advantages

Some of the advantages of Behavioral Activation programs are the following.

It has demonstrated ample scientific evidence

Compared to pharmacological therapy, it has obtained comparable results and a higher percentage of remission in depressed patients. a higher percentage of remission in the subjects, as well as adherence to treatment..

It is a simple treatment to apply

Compared to other proposals, it does not require so many steps.

It does not require thought modification, which is a more complex procedure.

The data suggest that the application of the behavioral components by themselves achieve the same result as the application of the complete cognitive therapy..

Conclusion

In short, Behavioral Activation is a therapy with strong empirical support, which provides a new treatment opportunity for people suffering from depression.

Bibliographical references:

• Cuijpers, P., van Straten A. and Warmerdam, L. (2007) Psychological treatment versus combined treatment of depression: A metaaalnysis. Drepress Anx: in press.
• Dimidjian, S., Hollon, S. D., Dobson, K. S., Schmaling, K. B., Kohlenberg, R. J., Addis, M. E., and Jacobson, N. S. (2006). Randomized trial of behavioral activation, cognitive therapy, and antidepressant medication in the acute treatment of adults with major depression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74(4), 658-670. http://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.74.4.658.