Psychological factors and psychotherapeutic approaches in depressive disorders

Abstract

This paper reviews the contributions of the different psychological orientations to the understanding and treatment of depressive disorders. Special emphasis is placed on explaining the foundations and methodology of the psychotherapeutic alternatives that at present enjoy the widest diffusion. Finally, reflection on the complexity of the depressive pictures, and on the reality within which the person suffering from this disorder is immersed, obliges us to support the recommendation of combined therapies, to emphasise the lack of a solid body of research concerning the efficacy of the treatments and the adjustment of the different modalities of psychotherapy to the different disorders and depressive patients, and to recommend that preventive strategies should be taken into account as well as those of treatment.