CS05-02 - Schema therapy for chronic depression

Although schema or schema-focused therapy is now a well-established treatment for personality disorders such as borderline personality disorder, it was originally developed with long-lasting or chronic forms of depression in mind. In this presentation, I argue why schema therapy is a promising treatment for depression by giving an overview of currently available treatments; describing the theoretical framework of how schema therapy might apply to chronic depression; presenting empirical evidence on the early maladaptive schemas found in depressive patients receiving outpatient treatment; and by describing the design of an ongoing study in which the effectiveness and underlying mechanisms of change of schema therapy for chronic depression are examined.