Cognitive factors in depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and hypochondriasis
Salkovskis PM.
The cognitive approach allows the detailed formulation of the idiosyncratic problems of an individual patient guided by a theory that has been subject to rigorous empirical evaluation. This review describes developments in the understanding of depression and highlights the way in which work is developing in previously more difficult areas of psychopathology, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and hypochondriasis. From the psychotherapeutic point of view, cognitive therapy offers the opportunity of providing effective therapy within the framework of a shared understanding of the patient's difficulties.