Treatment for Depression

QUESTION: Is there treatment for depression?

ANSWER:

Yes, there is treatment for depression. People who suffer from depression have a variety of options to help relieve some or all of the symptoms of depression. These treatments range from medications designed to alleviate the symptoms of depression to exercises designed to change your focus and get your mind off of your depressed mood.

The best course of action is to seek out professional help. A professional can determine a treatment program that best suits your needs. The programs are designed using a combination of counseling sessions and prescribed medications, which generally alleviate the symptoms of depression within a couple of days to a couple of weeks.

Antidepressant medications are designed to restore the chemical imbalance in your brain. Antidepressants are usually the first line of treatment for depression. The problem with antidepressants is each one has different effects on people. Therefore, medicating is sometimes a case of trial and error until you get the right combination.

Antidepressants only treat the symptoms of depression. You will need to take another course of action in order to relieve the root cause of your depression. On the plus side, antidepressants work in helping you cope while you are attending counseling. If you want to go that route, check with a licensed professional about the steps you need to take before taking medication.

Another concern when using antidepressants is that eventually you are going to have to stop taking the medications. They are only designed for short-term use so it is in your best interest to find out what is causing your depression and deal with it using another method.

Counseling is one method of discovering the source of your depression. As its name implies, counseling is meeting with a licensed professional and working through the root cause of depression. Counseling often involves question and answer sessions as well as questionnaires. Through the use of both of these methods, the counselor is able to come to a conclusion as to the best course of action for the treatment of your depression based on the root cause.

Support groups are another way to cope with depression. Groups allow you to get together with other people who are going through similar problems. These groups are helpful because they give you a way to talk about your illness in an environment of understanding. This takes away some of the fears of ridicule and self doubt.

You must remember to seek out the best treatment for you because what works for someone else may not be the best solution in your case. You have to want to get better because unless you can see yourself as being free of depression, the treatments will not work. You need to have a good attitude going into any treatment.