ABSTRACT
Introduction Linda was depressed as a teenager when she had to change schools and move to another city together with her parents. She only vaguely remembered that period, which lasted a few months. Now she was in her late 30s and was happily married with two children and a stable economic situation. However, three months prior there had been a major reorganization at work and she now had developed depression. In fact, she had been off work and had taken vacation time but just stayed at home. She heard about the Internet psychiatry unit from a friend who had been treated for panic disorder and decided to contact the unit. As she lived in the Stockholm county region she was accepted immediately, and just four days later she was called in for an interview with a psychiatrist in training. He recommended Internet treatment as she did not feel like having medication, or rather said to herself, “I do not feel that bad”. The next step occurred the week after the interview when she came back to the unit to see a psychologist. This psychologist interviewed her again and informed her about the depression program. She was also showed the system on the computer and the psychologist told her that she (the psychologist) would likely be the one who would guide her through the program. Although she had heard about Internet treatment previously, she did not know that it required a lot of work and that it basically was the same treatment as seeing a psychologist, except she would do it from a distance. She felt a bit anxious about the treatment as she felt very tired, but she was also encouraged to get going and get back to life again. She then worked with the program for 10 weeks, and in particular appreciated the behavioural activation parts. Working with her beliefs and thoughts felt a bit strange at first, but she discovered that she did indeed need to do that, in particular in relation to her work. It was arranged at the start of treatment for her to come back to the unit for a follow-up visit, and when she arrived more than two
months later she felt much better. She felt that she had done most of the work herself, but the support from her therapist had been helpful, in particular at one point when she almost gave up when the activity scheduling had failed totally.
