One of the most common issues that comes up in sessions with patients at our clinic in Tokyo is depression, and one of the most frequently asked questions is "How can psychotherapy help people with depression?"

This is a complex question that depends on what we mean by both "help" and "depression." Let's start with the types of conditions we might consider as depression in a general sense, and from there we can discuss how clinicians and researchers define "help."

Some people use the word "depression" when what they are actually describing is boredom or apathy. Boredom or apathy can be situational — as in a boring job — or it can be due to loneliness. It may be a symptom of a medical condition, such as stroke, or a psychiatric condition, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, where an individual may need constant stimulation in a topic they are interested in to alleviate the boredom of everyday life. In these cases, any treatment would be geared at correcting the underlying situation or condition, and by definition the problem they have is not depression to begin with.