What's first-line, what to pick when, and what to send home.
CBT, IPT, MBCT, ACT, and CFT for the depressed client — with the formulations that distinguish acute episodes from chronic, characterological, perinatal, and geriatric presentations.
The therapies most relevant to this topic.
Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interlocking — change one and the others move.
Depression is treated by working on the interpersonal context that surrounds it.
An 8-week group program that uses mindfulness to prevent depressive relapse.
Stop fighting your inner experience; start moving toward what matters.
Build the capacity for self-compassion in clients dominated by shame and self-criticism.
Integrative therapy for chronic patterns rooted in unmet childhood needs.
First-line picks and clinical guidance for the presentations under this topic.
Persistent low mood, anhedonia, and behavioral withdrawal; thinking turns rigid and self-critical.
Depression responds to multiple evidence-based therapies. Choice depends on severity, recurrence history, interpersonal context, and client preference. For 3+ prior episodes, relapse prevention (MBCT, maintenance IPT) becomes central. Severe presentations usually benefit from combined therapy + medication.
Recurrent depressive and (hypo)manic episodes; mood stabilization is medication-led with adjunctive therapy.
Bipolar disorder is primarily medication-managed (mood stabilizers, atypical antipsychotics). Psychotherapy is adjunctive — psychoeducation, prodrome monitoring, and circadian/sleep regulation reduce relapse.
Depression, anxiety, OCD, or PTSD during pregnancy or the postpartum year.
PMADs are common (~15–20% of birthing parents) and highly treatable. Screen with EPDS at multiple time points. Untreated perinatal depression has measurable effects on infant attachment and development — treat actively.
Acute and prolonged grief responses to loss; normal in nearly all cases, occasionally complicated.
Most grief is non-pathological and does not require treatment. When grief becomes prolonged (>12 months, impairing), targeted therapies help. Differentiate from depression — overlap exists but the focus differs.
Free, printable, Quick-Send to clients.
Plain-language explainers you can share or open together in session.
Anonymized vignettes with formulation across 2–3 modalities.
What changes when you sit with this population.