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Treatment of Depression from a Self-Regulation Perspective: Basic Concepts and Applied Strategies in Self-System Therapy

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Abstract

Self-regulation models of psychopathology provide a theory-based, empirically supported framework for developing psychotherapeutic interventions that complement and extend current cognitive-behavioral models. However, many clinicians are only minimally familiar with the psychology of self-regulation. The aim of the present manuscript is twofold. First, we provide an overview of self-regulation as a motivational process essential to well-being and introduce two related theories of self-regulation which have been applied to depression. Second, we describe how self-regulatory concepts and processes from those two theories have been translated into psychosocial interventions, focusing specifically on self-system therapy (SST), a brief structured treatment for depression that targets personal goal pursuit. Two randomized controlled trials have shown that SST is superior to cognitive therapy for depressed clients with specific self-regulatory deficits, and both studies found evidence that SST works in part by restoring adaptive self-regulation. Self-regulation-based psychotherapeutic approaches to depression hold significant promise for enhancing treatment efficacy and ultimately may provide an individualizable framework for treatment planning.

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Acknowledgments

Research presented in this manuscript was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Grant Numbers DA031579 and DA023026) and by the National Institute for Mental Health (Grant Numbers MH052281, MH067447, MH090414).

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  1. Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Box 90086, Durham, NC, 27705, USA

    Timothy J. Strauman

  2. University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Kari M. Eddington

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Strauman, T.J., Eddington, K.M. Treatment of Depression from a Self-Regulation Perspective: Basic Concepts and Applied Strategies in Self-System Therapy. Cogn Ther Res 41, 1–15 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-016-9801-1

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