[Cognitive therapies of depression].

Among brief psychotherapies of depression, cognitive therapy, a theoretical model which was proposed by A.T. Beck as early as the sixties, holds that depression comes from a distorted view of the environment: depressed patients view themselves, the world and the future negatively (cognitive triad). This conception is based upon cognitions, preconscious schemes and faulty information processing, that cognitive therapy corrects, using in a pragmatic way cognitive and behavioral techniques requiring an active collaboration of the patient. Cognitive therapy is indicated, alone or combined with anti-depressants, in neurotic depressions (DSM-II) and in most of major depressions (DSM-III) treated on an outpatient basis. Comparative outcome studies prove the effectiveness of cognitive therapy.