Archive for February 16th, 2010
Getting Treatment For Depression
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
When you are first beginning to overcome depression, it is important to spend some time and learn all that you can about the disease. One of the things that your provider will need to do first is to understand whether or not the depression that you are going through might come from another medical condition instead. This is important to rule out because if the depression is caused by a medical issue, it will need to be treated before the depression will respond.
The more severe and longer that the depression you are experiencing is going on, the more likely that you will require correspondingly more intense and longer term treatment than if the depression was rather mild and lasting only a month. Finding the right treatment for depression may take a little bit of time and experimentation. Not every treatment available works best for every person so during the beginning of depression treatment there may be some trial and error. This is especially true with finding the right therapist for you as well as finding the right antidepressant medication if medications are recommended. Finding the right therapist is about finding a good personality fit between you and your provider. Obviously this doesn’t always happen on the first try and may take a few interviews for you to feel comfortable. The important thing to remember is that even if the first therapist or first medication doesn’t work out, you are taking steps in overcoming the depression.
You will find what works for you and get the help you need. It’s important also to not depend on antidepressants alone to treat depression. While the drug companies may try through advertisements to say they are adequate alone, antidepressants are not as effective as therapy at treating depression and preventing it from recurring at a latter point in life. The medications just don’t treat the underlying causes of depression that therapy does. Psychotherapy has been shown to be as effective as or even more effecting than treatment with antidepressants, and has the benefit of not causing medical side effects or drug interactions that you may get from taking medication.
Therapy alone or therapy in combination with antidepressant medications have consistently been shown to be the best treatment for depression. Taking these first steps in overcoming depression might seem hard right now, but it gets easier as you start to get better.
