This post summarizes the ways in which depression can be treated. It overviews how depression is diagnosed, and which treatments are used based on the severity of depression.
What is Depression and can that be treated?
Depression is a medical illness that negatively affects feelings, thoughts, and actions. Symptoms of depression vary between people and range from mild to severe. Common symptoms include changes in appetite, feelings of sadness, a loss of energy, difficulty thinking, and thoughts of suicide. Because the severity of depression fluctuates greatly between individuals, there are a wide variety of treatments that can be chosen to best suit the needs of the patient. Usually, doctors assess a patient with both a physical exam and an interview to accurately diagnose them with depression. This procedure also helps the doctor prescribe specific treatments that should be used. Medication, psychotherapy, hospitalization, and brain stimulation therapy are the most common types of treatments and will often be prescribed by the doctor after the patient’s exams.
Today’s day and age there are many ways to get through depression which also includes energy work, Naturopathic medication.
More commonly known treatments are
1. Medication: There are a number of antidepressant medications that can positively modify brain chemistry. As they are long-term medications, people often don’t experience the full benefits until two to three months later. It is important for patients and doctors to discuss the medications thoroughly before beginning treatment as many of them can have major side effects. Some examples of medications include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, atypical antidepressants, and tricyclic antidepressants.
2. Psychotherapy: For mild depression, psychotherapy may be used alone. But for more severe diagnoses, it will probably be accompanied by some form of antidepressant medication. Psychotherapy involves talking about one’s depression with a mental health professional. Although there are many forms of psychotherapy, the most common types are cognitive behavioural therapy and interpersonal therapy. Psychotherapy can help patients identify negative behaviors and work to replace them with healthy, positive ones. Mental health professionals can support patients in regaining a sense of control over their life by teaching them how to set realistic goals and find better ways to solve problems.
3. Hospital treatment: When depression is extremely severe, patients will require hospital treatment. This becomes necessary when patients are dealing with thoughts of immediate suicide, or harm to oneself and others. By staying in the hospital, patients can be taken care of and kept safe until the symptoms of depression ameliorate, and a treatment plan is in place.
4. Brain stimulation therapies: For patients that cannot take or do not respond to antidepressants, brain stimulation can help to improve the function of neurotransmitters in the brain. During Electroconvulsive Therapy, electric currents pass through the brain to impact these neurotransmitters. Another option for brain stimulation therapy is transcranial magnetic stimulation. Here, a coil placed on the patient’s scalp sends magnetic pulses to stimulate nerve cells involved in mood regulation. One of the most dangerous features of depression is the way it can sneak into your heart and rob you of hope. But you are not helpless. There are many ways to treat depression — all it takes is a single step at a time.
There are Natural ways to help you with your depression Like setting up a routine for yourself, Exercising, setting some type of goal for yourself, trying to find someone of interest, challenging your negative thoughts this could be challenging and requires you to retrain your brain to change the way you perceive things and doing something completely different than what you generally do.