There are many depression treatment options available, for example, counselling, medication, healthy lifestyle changes etc. Learning about them will help to decide which approach is right for a person as no two persons are affected by depression precisely in the same way.
Some treatment options might be more useful to one person but not so effective for the other one.
We all experience both happy and sad events in life. It is evident that everyone enjoys happy moments, but sometimes people get depressed due to tragic circumstances. Depression happens because; people have different perspectives on life.
Depending on the outlook toward life, we can differentiate the people as follows:
– People, who maintain their self-esteem and positive mental frame even in a period of sadness. And they restart their normal activities after some time.
– People who become sad at sad events, but their self-esteem grows low. They experience feelings of worthlessness and self-loathing. Their mental outlook becomes negative; they lose interest in activities they enjoyed before, and their mood does not change even after a long time. They may think that Life is not fair
They cannot improve the things in their lives.
They do not deserve success or happiness
because they are not capable of the same. People believe themselves unlucky.
They are failures.
Others are responsible for failures and grievances.
Bad about their selves and have no self-regard.
Category two people are considered to be in a depressed condition.
The causes and symptoms of depression are different for different people. Hence the mode of treatment also varies from one person to another. However, the good news is, that every kind of depression is treatable. So, when someone, suffering from depression, feels like he/she will never get out of the darkness in life, their dear ones must assure that even the most severe depression is treatable and the person must not hesitate to seek help.
It is unfortunate that depression remains untreated, most of the time because people hesitate to speak about it. The social stigma associated with depression prevents people from seeking help due to the fear of being considered mentally unstable.
Sometimes, due to the lack of awareness of depression, people are unable to identify the signs of depression, and they remain stuck in unhealthy behaviour patterns for a long time. Eventually, they become dull, and their condition of depression aggravates due to the disease remaining untreated. Ultimately, the sufferer and his/her family, both face adverse effects.
It must be noted that depression should not be considered a weakness or mental instability. People must treat it as an illness like diabetes or heart problems, and it can affect anyone and anytime during their lifetime.
An interesting fact about the recovery from this disease is that the healing starts with the recognition that there is some problem. As soon as the person accepts that his/her behaviour pattern is wrong and changes are required to be recovered, he/she gets ready for the treatment
Even if the person in depression does not know the cause, type of depression and remedy of the same, one should not hesitate to seek help from a professional therapist. The person undergoing depression treatment is advised to get information about his/her disease from the internet and some books recommended by his/her doctor.
There are many treatment options available, for example, counselling, medication, healthy lifestyle changes etc. Learning about them will help to decide which approach is right for a person as no two persons are affected by depression precisely in the same way. Some treatment options might be more useful to one person but not so effective for the other one.
Therefore, the most critical steps are counselling, medication, healthy lifestyle changes etc. Learning about them will help to decide which approach is right for a person as no two persons have the same symptoms and causes. Treating depression is usually done by gaining knowledge about it. When the person and his family, are well informed, the treatment is done more effectively.
Types of depression treatment:
- Medication
- Due to other medical conditions
- Psychotherapy
- Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
- Electronic Convulsive Therapy (ECT)
- Lifestyle Changes
1. Medication:
Depression occurs due to a change in brain chemistry. Antidepressant medicines modify brain chemistry. These should be taken on the advice of the psychiatrists and must be stopped only on the recommendation of a doctor or medical practitioner.
2. Due to other medical conditions:
Many medical conditions can cause symptoms of depression, including sadness, fatigue, and loss of enthusiasm. The doctor prescribes medical tests to rule out the possibilities of underlying medical ailments. If the person is diagnosed with such a condition, he/she is treated accordingly. Sometimes, only the treatment of the underlying diseases cures the patient. In case he/she requires other depression treatments, the doctor advises as per the need.
3. Psychotherapy:
Psychotherapy involves talking to a person with a qualified therapist. It may affect only the individual or sometimes may include family or couple depending upon the requirement of the case. Sometimes, it is used alone for the treatment of mild depression. For moderate to severe depression, psychotherapy is often used along with antidepressant medications.
4. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT):
This theory helps in changing the negative thinking and behaviour associated with depression. According to this theory, it is believed that humans have both negative and positive tendencies based on their irrational thinking and rational thinking. And irrational patterns of thought, feeling and behaving are the causes of human depression.
CBT helps to identify feelings, thoughts and behaviour that co-work to make one feel happy, sad, excited, depressed, irritable, etc. It teaches first to observe the thoughts and behaviour and then apply the rules of logic, and straight thinking to understand, control and stop the negative thinking pattern that triggers depression.
Negative thoughts (“I can never get success despite my best efforts”) are identified and then replaced with positive thoughts (“I can get success”). This transformation helps them identify their negative thoughts and behaviour with logical reasoning and then replace them with a positive alternative. The practice of such thinking leads to a more effective and positive response. It is also observed that unconditional acceptance of self, others and life itself are important to attain mental wellness.
Sometimes merely changing one’s behaviour can bring about a positive change in feelings and mood. The habit can be as simple as listening to favourite music and going to buy something from the market.
5. Electronic Convulsive Therapy (ECT):
Highly qualified professional doctors do ECT for patients suffering from severe depression. It involves light electrical stimulation of the brain while the patient is under anesthesia. A team of trained medical professionals including a psychiatrist, an anesthesiologist and a nurse is involved in the process.
6. Lifestyle Changes:
Lifestyle changes alone might not treat depression, but they play an essential role in the treatment of depression. Having a healthful lifestyle is the prerequisite to keep one away from depression. If someone is suffering from depression and does not follow a healthy lifestyle, then it is recommended to adopt changes where required. That will help him/her to get better results from the treatment he/she is undergoing.
Healthy lifestyle tips to fight depression:
Exercise:
Doing activities for about an hour every day boosts all feel-good hormones such as serotonin, and endorphins in the body. It creates a positive impact on the mood of a person. Exercises trigger the growth of new brain cells just the same way antidepressant medicines do. Hence, exercises calm and relax the mind at the time of stress and thus help in coping with depression.
Have some sunlight and also practice meditation, yoga and deep breathing.
It is an excellent app to practice meditation.
Social support:
Social isolation is the principal risk factor for depression. Hence, keeping in contact with friends and family is a must. Often, the simple act of talking to someone face-to-face can be an enormous help. To increase social group, one must join some hobby classes or some other group of interest. The best way to get a social support system is to help people and volunteer some services.
Nutrition:
Having a well-balanced diet is significant for both physical and mental health. The food must include the right amount of the entire nutrients required for the body. It is better to have a diet chart by a qualified doctor. Eating small, well-balanced meals throughout the day helps to maintain energy levels high throughout the day and minimises mood swings.
Sleep:
Having a good night sleep is an essential factor to deal with depression because the rest has a substantial effect on mood. Deprivation from seep increases irritability, moodiness, sadness, and fatigue. Seven to nine hours of sleep is required to keep healthy and depression free.
Need to identify day-to-day Stress and try to reduce them:
Overloaded with work, unfriendly relations and lack of support system, be unsatisfied with the achievements in life, stuck in the rat race of the society, all these lead to stress.
Too much stress worsens the situation and leads to future depression. Therefore, some changes must be done to change the perspective of life and make it stress-free.
It is better to consult with a therapist or family about the day to day stress and save ourselves from future depression.
Break the cycle of negativity:
Depression starts with the constant feelings of negative thoughts, for example, feelings of self-loathing, guilt, being useless etc. Such kind of persistent thoughts must be checked on a daily basis and replace them with positive thoughts.
Maintaining a journal (personal diary), writing recurrent negative thoughts on it and replacing them with happier ones can break the cycle of negativity.
Be active:
Write your dairy every day and include a few small tasks of personal choices in it. Having achievable targets is good. Try to complete them in a day as much as possible. It will help to boost morale and self-worth.
Do not make impossible targets:
It is okay to wish to achieve something big in life. But, big goals sometimes create a lot of unnecessary stress. Hence, one needs to break the big goal into smaller ones. Accomplishing smaller objectives one after the other and keep celebrating every little achievement. Life is not a race. One should enjoy every scene of the beautiful journey of life.
Spend some time with nature:
Nature is a true healer. Humans must experience the existence of beautiful view because there is a real bliss in it. It cannot be explained only by words; One should experience it. Hence, spend some time alone with trees, plants, sky, moon; stars etc.
Last but not the least, Talk to someone about depression:
People hesitate to talk about their depression. It leads to living with depression for quite a long time. The untreated depression aggravates the condition of the sufferer. Just opening up to someone about struggles can make the person feel light. So one must not hesitate to talk to trusted family members or friends or seek out new connections at a depression support group.
We should remember that asking for help or sharing weakness does not mean that the person is a burden to others. Often talking face to face with someone can be very effective in dealing with depression.
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Things to remember while getting depression treatment:
Sometimes therapy can be challenging to handle, but people should not leave it in the middle of treatment. However, if the person is not comfortable with the therapist, he should not hesitate to explore other options. A healthy and trusting relationship between the therapist and the patient is the foundation of sound therapy.
Do not hide any information from the doctor. The doctor must know everything about the medical as well as psychological conditions of the person. The doctor can decide the right treatment strategies only when he knows the complete details of the person.
Learning about depression is essential. It helps the person to understand that depression treatments take time, and sometimes it might feel overwhelming or frustratingly slow because it takes time to find the right solution. So, one should be ready for a little experimentation.
Healthy lifestyle changes bring positive results from the treatment.
