Thanks Doc.

There were several reasons why I mentioned cognitive behavioral therapy in Episode 10. First, it was featured in the book I was discussing and second, it is one that I know has mainstream acceptance because I have seen it in the continuing medical education material that I receive from the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Another treatment approach that is very effective is exercise. I will be discussing this in Episode 33.

This episode (10) raised some questions for me I would like some feedback on.

You mention how mindfulness and meditation can be helpful for people with obsessive compulsive disorder. For depression you mention cognitive behaviour therapy and medication treatments.

I recently became interested in meditation as a way of dealing with negative thinking and actually found the process of “observing” one’s thoughts and recognising that they were “just ” thoughts was very effective. Much more effective than trying to replace or change the thoughts (cognitive behaviour?).

About the same time I discovered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) which seems to be a current approach to dealing with these sorts of problems. It turns out to be much the same approach as the above form of meditation – it also stresses mindfulness. It effectively encourages the same process of observing one’s thoughts without the requirement of meditation.

Now, I would think that ACT would be more effective than cognitive behaviour therapy in treating depression but you didn’t mention it .

Do you know if ACT is an accepted way of treating depression? What is your view of ACT compared with cognitive behaviour? Is it a more recent replacement or is it complementary?