Problem solving therapy

Abstract

This paper describes how problem solving therapy (PST) would be applied to the treatment of Sylvia (I. Caro, 2001), a 27-year-old depressed wife and mother of three. PST involves training individuals in five major processes: problem orientation, problem definition and formulation, generation of alternatives, decision making, and solution implementation and verification. We briefly describe a problem solving model of depression that highlights the moderating nature of problem solving ability regarding the stress-depression relationship. Based on this model, we then delineate how PST can be specifically applied to Sylvia. This is followed by a brief overview of the research base supporting the efficacy of PST for depression.