[Psychotherapy of depression].

Patients with depressive disorder are often guilty of their dysfunction and desperate of their future. In acute stage, it is most important to give patients the insight into their illness and to give them such reassurance that they will recover with treatment. Clinicians should advise the patients to take a rest. To encourage and motivate the patients to do work or other activities is often harmful. In the recovery stage, it is useful for the patients to reflect on their premorbid personality and behavioral traits that facilitate the development of depressive disorder, which may lead to their changing way of life and prevent recurrence of the illness.