Approaches to Treating Depression: A Case Study of Jane

This paper discusses two different therapeutic modalities that can be used to treat depression in a patient named Jane. The paper compares and contrasts the approaches of a counselor and a psychologist, and identifies the main differences and similarities between the two approaches. The paper concludes that cognitive-behavioral therapy by a psychologist is the best approach for addressing the issues of the patient.

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGY
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author’s name

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Introduction:
With a high prevalence of mental health issues, depression is considered as a
potential life-threatening disorder which affects hundreds of millions of people around the globe.
Lumley, Katsikitis and tatham (2018), suggested that the psychopathological state of the
depression include a triad of symptoms with frequent low mood, anhedonia, as well as low
energy or fatigue. The other symptoms include psychomotor disturbance and sleep disturbance
which affected the quality of life of the individuals (Solomon et al., 2015). The case study
represents a major depressive disorder of Jane who is a 50-year-old woman who is seeking help
on the advice of her GP. The case study highlighted that Jane is divorced with two children of
27 years and 30 years. For this paper, counselor and psychologist are both modalities that have
been chosen to provide safe and responsive care to the patients. This paper will illustrate a
description of the approach of two modalities, a summary of understanding two different
modalities for dealing with the situation of Jane, similarities, and differences of the approaches.
Discussion:
As discussed above Jane who is a 50 years old woman, seeking clinical assistance
because of depression. The case study highlighted that Jane is divorced with two children of 27
years and 30 years. While her father died when she was 29, her mother passed away a few
months ago and hence she lived alone. She would like to start her career as a nurse which will
assist her to come up with the mental illness she is facing. Taking a deep insight into the
situation, two different therapeutic modalities will work with Jane with two different approaches.
Two different modalities working with Jane:

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Considering the approach of a counselor, the counselor more likely to develop a
therapeutic relationship with Jane in order to empower her so that she can overcome depression
and gain a perspective of the mental state of the Jane. Westbrook, Kennerly and Kirk (2007),
suggested that a counselor is more likely to focus on the communication and feeling of the
patients and empathize them while providing care to the patients. The counselor is more likely
to involve Jane in the therapeutic session where a counselor uses non-judgmental behavior to set
goals for Jane and would assist in achieving this goal through communication.
On the other hand, psychologist more likely to follow behavioral and cognitive
theory. Nelson-Jones (2015), highlighted that psychologist more likely to incorporate a range of
cognitive and behavioral approaches in the session and focus on protective and risk factors that
more likely to influence the situation of the clients. In this current context, the psychologist is
more likely to help Jane in managing thought process and behaviors, teaching Jane in
supportive skills, time management and self-management skills for avoiding relapse when faced
with the old stressors such as the death of the father, mother, and divorce of husband and away
from children (Wills, 2008). In this case, psychologist more likely to observe the patients for a
specific period for monitoring the behaviors, cognitions, and beliefs of the clients (LeBeau et al.,
2013). After monitoring psychologist will more likely to involve Jane in sessions to eliminate her
negative thoughts and beliefs to support the faster recovery of the patients.
Understanding of situation of Jane from the perspective of two different modalities:
Despite the presence of similarities between two approaches, two different
modalities have two different perspectives on understanding the situation of Jane.

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Considering the perspective of a counselor, the counselor gains the understanding
of the behavior of Jane whether Jane was feeling low or not. Counselor is more likely to
understand the lifestyles of the Jane, diet of the patients, the frequency of the low mood of the
patients, feeling of the patients and facial expression of the patients (Patel et al., 2017). In this
case, a counselor will design intervention according to it. On the other hand, considering the
perspective of the psychologist, the psychologist will gather the understanding of the risk factors
or stressors which is affecting the situation of the patients. The psychologist will gather the
understanding of Jane relationship with his mother, his father, his children, and divorced husband
(Langham et al., 2017). The psychologist will more likely evaluate other past factors such as
violence, aggression, bully or any other incidents that may impact her behavior. Moreover,
psychologist more likely to understand the situation by considering the values and beliefs of
Jane.
Identification of the main differences between the two approaches:
The main differences between counseling and cognitive behavioral therapy
psychologist is that psychologist have is a more scientific approach to address the issues of the
client compared to the counselor. While communicating with the clients, psychologist
professionals usually focus on past experiences which may act as protective factors or risk
factors for the development of the current patterns. McLeod (2009), suggested that in this
therapy, the professionals more likely to engage clients in the sessions where professionals more
likely to analysis the relationship of clients with other members of the family and past
experiences such as beliefs, gender differences, violence. In this case, the professionals may
involve the family members of the clients for alerting thought process and behavior of the
clients. On the other hand, counselors interested in developing and maintaining a warm and

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empathic therapeutic relationship (Di Mattia & Grant, 2016). It helps patients to identify their
problems and goals for overcoming this problem. Consequently, patients may feel empowered,
important, and confident to share their concerns with the professionals which will result in faster
recovery. The counselor is more likely to involve patients in one to one session to overcome.
Another crucial difference between two approaches is that while cognitive behavioral therapy
reinforcement and reward, relaxation training and systematic desensitization, to effect change in
client behavior, counseling includes talk therapy and cognitive therapy (McKetin et al., 2018).
Stargatt et al. (2017) suggested that psychologists usually use this approach to resolve long
rooted in the client’s life, as observed in this case study where Jane was experiencing depression
due to deaths of parents, children living away and divorce (McKetin et al., 2018). On the other
hand, counselors usually use counseling in adjusting in the current environment with the by
achieving the desired goal.
Similarities between two approaches:
While there are a vast number of differences exist between two approaches that
make one of the therapies more suitable for treating mental illness compared to others, both of
the approaches have a similar aim and basic method to assists the client in overcoming the issues
and support the wellbeing of the clients. The first similarity is that both psychologists and
counselors who aimed to reduce the high prevalence of mental illness and support the client in
living quality of life, are committed to developing effective and meaningful connections with
their clients as the basis of effective therapy (McKetin et al., 2018). In the case of both the
approaches, the prime focus is the wellbeing of clients and address the needs of the clients. In
both of the approaches, the professionals use professional and non-judgmental behaviors to

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involve clients in the session and provide safety and confidentiality to the patients so that they
can feel safe and comfortable (Hutman et al., 2016).
Best suitable approach:
The cognitive-behavioral therapy by a psychologist would be the most suitable
approach to provide safe and responsive care to the patients as observed in this case study. Di
Mattia and Grant (2016), highlighted that this approach follows behavioral and cognitive theory
to assists clients in eliminating negative thoughts. Watt et al. (2019) suggested that interventions
and approaches are highly biased toward observable change which provide professionals to
observe the client and take decisions according to it rather than designing interventions based on
the communication with the patients. Moreover, in other words, in this type of approach include
both types of the school of thoughts such as behavioral interventions aim to help Jane unlearn
disruptive behaviors and assists Jane in gathering skills for different techniques, such as
confidence, relaxation, and acceptance of feared objects (Hutman et al., 2016). On the other
hand, cognitive interventions respect the reality, disputing faulty beliefs and irrational thoughts
of the client, in this case, it would be Jane. Hence, it is a more scientific approach towards the
faster recovery of Jane from depression.
Conclusion:
Thus, it can be concluded that depression is considered as a potentially life-
threatening disorder which affects hundreds of millions of people around the globe. In this
case, two different approaches can be taken to address the issues of Jane. The case study
explored major depressive disorder of Jane who is a 50-year-old woman who is seeking help on
the advice of her GP. The case study highlighted that Jane is divorced with two children of 27

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years and 30 years. However, considering two different approaches, psychologist have is a more
scientific approach to address the issues of the client compared to the counselor. Psychologist
professionals usually focus on the past experiences which may act as protective factors or risk
factors for the development of the current patterns but the counselor focuses on current behaviors
of the clients to support the wellbeing. Hence, cognitive behavioral therapy by psychologists is
the best suitable approach for addressing the issues.

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