Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is an approach that has been found to be helpful in treating depression and other mental health difficulties.
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is a group-based course for people with a history of recurring depression.
Find out which treatments the National Institutes of Clinical Excellence currently recommends for depression.

AccEPT Clinic

The AccEPT (Accessing Evidence-based Psychological Therapies) Clinic specializes in delivering and developing new treatments for depression. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is an approach that has been found to be helpful in treating depression and other mental health difficulties.

When people are depressed, the way they see themselves and the way that they perceive situations can change. This change can lead to thinking and behaving in unhelpful ways and often leads to symptoms and distress persisting in a vicious circle. CBT can be used to break this circle.

In CBT the therapist works with the person to help them begin to identify and then change these unhelpful patterns of thinking and behaviour. By doing this, the result can be a significant improvement in how the person feels and lives their day to day life.

CBT within the clinic is offered by a number of trained CBT practitioners who are from a variety of professional backgrounds. Our CBT practitioners all have specialist skills in the development, training and delivery of CBT.

You can find out more about CBT and how it works via the British Association of Behavioural Cognitive Therapies website.

You can find out which treatments the National Institute for Clinical Excellence currently recommends for depression here. There are separate guidelines for depression, depression that co-occurs with chronic physical health problems, bipolar disorder and post-partum depression.

You can find a comprehensive explanation of the various approaches and treatments available for depression at Help for Depression. 

Assessment in the AccEPT Clinic

After an initial referral has been made to the clinic by a GP or other Mental Health Professional, all clients are contacted by telephone for a brief discussion about their main difficulties and to determine whether the clinic can help them. If it is appropriate, clients will then be invited for a more in-depth assessment at the clinic to decide on the best treatment option available to them.

Treatments in the AccEPT Clinic

The clinic is continuously developing and evaluating innovative treatments. As a result of this, the specific therapies offered by the clinic may change over time. Currently, we are offering the following therapies:

Group Behavioural Activation (BA) Therapy for Current Depression

We know that people become depressed for all sorts of reasons, but that once they are depressed, there are particular factors that can keep depression going. BA therapy seeks to change one of these factors.

Often people who are depressed have a pattern of acting and reacting to situations in ways that may keep their depression going. In the BA group we look at our patterns of acting and reacting and consider how this might make depression better or worse.

Then we look at ways to change these patterns, and how to engage in activities that feel meaningful and help depression to lift.

Later on in the group, we look at a particular pattern of thinking called 'rumination'. Rumination is when we keep thinking something over and over without moving on. It is usually something that we are unhappy or uncomfortable about. We look at how rumination happens and how it contributes to depressive illness, and we consider some alternatives ways of thinking and behaving.

In terms of practice, our BA groups involve weekly meetings for 10 weeks. The BA groups include about 10 people plus two facilitators. Group sessions are quite like workshops: We go through set material each week, and group members take home handout summaries of each session.

During group meetings there is large-group discussion and also discussion in small groups and in pairs. Each week group members are asked to practice new skills at home.

The BA group is different from some other group therapies because it is quite structured, and has a very ‘here and now’ focus. That is, it looks at group members’ difficulties in their day-to-day lives.

Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for Recurrent Depression

MBCT is a group-based course for people with a history of recurring depression. It helps people to develop skills to prevent depression coming back.

People who have completed an MBCT course often say it has helped them to learn skills and strategies that help them halt the downward spiral into depression. They also describe how the course helps them to develop a more accepting relationship to bodily sensations, feelings and thoughts. Many group members say that they value meeting other people in the group with whom they have a lot in common.

The group meets for eight weekly two-hour sessions with a number of follow-up sessions several months later. There are up to 15 people in each group.

You can find out more about MBCT and mindfulness approaches via these websites:

Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for Stress associated with Other Conditions

MBSR is a group-based course for people who have either anxiety or mental health problems as a result of physical health problems; distress as a result of chronic pain; or less than three previous episodes of depression and are currently well, wishing to learn techniques for coping with stress.  MBSR is a well established approach with a proven success in reducing stress.

The group meets for eight weekly two-hour sessions with a number of follow-up sessions several months later. There are up to 15 people in each group.

The attached flyers provide more information about MBSR for GPs/referrers and patients:      

Mindfulness GP Q&A leaflet

Mindfulness Patient Q&A leaflet

Individual Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Depression

We offer a limited individual therapy service for people with depression who have particular needs that may not be met through group therapy or through mainstream mental health services.

Individual CBT for depression involves looking at unhelpful ways of thinking and behaving that play a role in depression and learning alternative ways of thinking and behaving.

The provision of individual CBT should be increasing in the NHS generally with the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Initiative. Please ask your GP how to access individual CBT therapists.

Behavioural Couples' Therapy

Behavioural Couples’ Therapy is a mode of therapy recommended by NICE guidelines that has been found to be particularly helpful in treating depression when the person with the diagnosis of depression is in an ongoing partnership.  This mode of therapy is time limited and aims to addresses couple distress which itself can decrease both closeness and support and can influence and intensify the course of depression. By the same token, by helping the couple reverse their cycle of distress and teaching them how to behave and think about things differently, the downward cycle of depression can be reversed.

  • The sessions will teach skills in how to manage conflict within the couple; of how to listen to each other more effectively and how to communicate to each other with greater clarity and security.
  • Concomitantly the sessions concentrate on educating both members of the couple in skills for recognizing vulnerable points between them that contribute to the downward spiral into depression; on teaching the couple how to activate positive interactional skills they have gained through the sessions; and on rehearsing, consolidating, and preparing for maintenance of these newly acquired positive behaviours.
  • Changing the repertoire of interactional behaviours within the couple from those that contribute to  the downward spiral into depression into an upward one that draws on supportiveness and maintenance of positive experiences also entails work on changing cognitions around each other and respective behaviours.
  • Sessions typically include between six to twenty sessions, with built-in reviews every four to six sessions. Sessions last approximately an hour-and-a-half each
  • People suitable for this mode of therapy are those in an ongoing relationship (not necessarily cohabiting), without incidence of domestic violence. 

Referrals

The AccEPT Clinic takes referrals from within the Exeter, Mid Devon, East Devon and South Devon regions. Referrals from North Devon can also be made for the MBCT and MBSR groups.  Referrals are made via GPs and the local Well-Being and Access Service.

If you are a potential referrer to the AccEPT Clinic (i.e. a GP or Mental Health Professional) and would like more information you can email MDC-accept@exeter.ac.uk or telephone 01392 723493.

Download the client Referral form .pdf

Download the client Referral form_North Devon .pdf (MBCT and MBSR).