The present Beat the Blues Program is based in a cognitive-behavioral model. It has been developed as an 8-module group treatment program for 8-10 participants and is usually run over 8 weeks. Each module focuses on aspects of the model and provides exercises, strategies, and techniques for understanding and dealing with depression and anxiety. One of the aims of this short-term program is to raise awareness for the situations that contribute to depression, the physiological correlates, the importance of thoughts/self-talk and its relationship to feelings and behavior. However within the cognitive-behavioral framework it is not sufficient to acquire an intellectual understanding of the management of depression, it is necessary to identify the triggering events, and distorted thought patterns and to learn and practice ways of constructively dealing with depressed mood as well as framing events so that they do not lead to feeling depressed in the first place. (Author)