Will I accept Romney ? Never . Would I accept Trump using him for his deeper goals ? Yes . <| sep |> Pedantic as fuck . <| sep |> Depression is inherently irrationalRationality is more of a philosophical question . However , I don ' t think most therapies prescribe this view . Some alternative assumptions are things like 1 depression is the result of relying too heavily on previously adaptive coping strategies often referring to research from Ogden , LeDoux , Porges etc , 2 depression is a perfectly rational response to one ' s surroundings this one is more e x i s tentialhumanisticsystemic . abnormality stems from faulty cognitionStems from is too tough a word . However , psychological disorder is definitely characterized by disordered thinking . And thinking does influence other psychological states . Thus , thoughts can be an appropriate point of attack in a therapeutic intervention . It ' s also based on the idea that internal signals , not just external , can elicit responses in the body . Only thoughts can cause emotionsThis is definitely false . There ' s been a lot of research and I ' m not up to date here , but the general idea from LeDoux , Damasio is that emotions are elicited through a lot of different stimuli , and these processes are pretty automatic . But that doesn ' t mean that changing thoughts and interpretations aren ' t worthwhile , because our behaviours and experiences and learning isn ' t determined by our emotions . Also , it ' s great and healthy that you question these assumptions ! I think it ' s important to raise these issues that you have , because I believe that it will be stand in the way of truly learning something if you don ' t buy into the fundamentals . This point is also reflected in APA ' s standards for evidence based practice . So I think it ' s therapeutically valid to actually address the concerns that you are having .