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Counselling for depression (CfD) is an evidence-based form of psychological therapy as recommended by NICE (NICE, 2009) for the treatment of depression.
CfD is based on a person-centred, experiential model and is particularly appropriate for people with persistent low-level depressive symptoms or mild to moderate depression.
CfD targets the emotional problems that cause depression, along with the associated thought processes, such as low self-esteem and excessive self-criticism, which often maintain depressed mood.
CfD therapy aims to help you contact underlying feelings, make sense of them and reflect on the new meanings which emerge. This, in turn, provides a basis for learning ways to think and act differently.
You must be able to tolerate some level of distress in order to see through difficult phases of counselling therapy. As such, if you are currently experiencing active suicidal intent, or are at high risk to yourself or others then you would not be offered counselling.
Likewise, if your main difficulties are other than depression (e.g. anxiety, OCD or PTSD) you would be directed to one of the NICE recommended treatments for these, so that these difficulties are at a manageable level, before counselling would be considered a suitable treatment.
