Essay --

Cognitive behavioural therapy, an empirically validated treatment for Major Depressive Disorder (Robinson, Berman, & Neimeyer, 1990) has featured in over 78 research studies, and is the treatment of choice when treating depression by many clinicians. A meta analaysis completed by Dobson (1989), reviewed 28 studies featuring cognitive therapy and depression, and found that cognitive therapy was a more effective treatment modality than behaviour therapy, wait list control, medication, and other therapies. A further meta-analysis conducted by Gloaguen et al., (1998) found that Cognitive behavioural therapy was equal to behaviour therapy, and more effective than drug treatments when treating Major Depressive Disorder. While depression has been found to be successfully treated by therapies such as CBT, many depressed individuals do not continue to attend therapy (Barnes et al., 2003). This can be challenging as CBT in particular requires a commitment from participants in terms of attending a number of sessions so that the client can begin to experience progress. Researchers have found inattendance by those with depression may be due to a number of factors, such as avoidance of dealing with negative feelings (Barnes et al., 2013). According to MacDonald et al (2007), the symptomology of depression, such as reduced concentration, may provide a need for alternate ways of information to be provided when treating depression. One of the core components of CBT is homework activities, with homework completion being found to lead to greater results of therapy (Flynn, 2011). In a study by Simons et al., (2012), it was found that adolescents self reported less depressive symptoms, as well as reduced hopelessness,... ...as found, with these changes maintained at three and six month follow up. In addition, a one day EFT workshop, where EFT was delivered to 216 healthcare workers, resulted in a statistically significant reduction in depressive symptoms (Church, Geronilla, & Dinter, 2009). Two randomised controlled trials (RCT) found EFT to be an effective medium when treating symptoms of depression. After completing an 8 week online EFT course, 36 fibromyalgia patients receiving treatment for PTSD were found to have a significant reduction of depressive symptoms (Brattberg, 2008). The second RCT focussed on 59 war veterans who were experiencing clinical levels of depression. After six sessions of EFT, there was a significant change in their depressive levels which dropped to a subclinical level. These improvements were also maintained at follow-up (Church et al., 2011).