Brief therapy with a postpartum depressive: Integrating cognitive-behaviorand thought field therapies within a spiritual framework

This case study describes a rather brief course of therapy with a 30-year-o ld woman who became clinically depressed after the birth of her child. A un ique element of this presentation is that the client describes what happene d to her before and during a variety of treatments, including fours hospita lizations and an array of medications that iatrogenically produced seizures , prior to our the therapeutic work. Proceeding the client's subjective acc ount, I describe my clinical framework,-a brief integrative, solution-focus ed, client-directed therapy approach, emphasizing the integration of cognit ive-behavioral and thought field therapies (Callahan, 1995)-undertaken with in the context of a constructivist/spiritual metatheory. A session-by-sessi on description of the implementation of this approach and its effects follo ws the client's description of her experiences. The paper concludes, with t he client's remarks about this therapy and its impact, followed by my own o bservations about treatment, including prospects for bridging Western psych ology and spiritual practice with such Eastern traditions as Yoga and Buddh ism.