What is this funk?
It’s called depression, and it affects more than 264 million people worldwide. It can occur without any loss or great stress to trigger it, be it personal problems, the chronic use of alcohol or other drugs. Using alcohol or other drugs to improve your mood is especially risky. This is because addictive substances often intensify pre-existing mood or personality problems. For those who struggle with addiction, conquering depression also requires addressing co-occurring mental health issues. Some treatment centers even specialize in co-occurring disorders. Advanced Health & Education in New Jersey is an example.
Even prescribed medications may lead to severe depression so these unpredictable mood swings could be the very least of your problems.
Some severely depressed people do need medicines to control their depression. If you’ve sunk to these depths most psychiatrists will use trial and error to find a drug that will help you.
The key is to find the right treatment center that can administer the fastest, most effective treatment of severe depression. Properly trained, informed and experienced therapists are now discovering ways of lifting even severe depression quickly.
Recent depression research shows that how we perceive our gloom, what we actually think it is, well, this is truly important in the efficiency of the treatment we undergo. What this means is that knowing all the facts about depression and really understanding the despair is key. Reducing the amount of negative rumination or introspection the depressed person is doing is incredibly important.
In fact, it’s believed depression is 10 times more common in those born since 1945 than in those born prior to that year so being in the hands of a competent analyst and in a credible facility is very important to you. In such a place they can determine if your depression requires antidepressant drugs, often the first treatment option prescribed by health professionals.
If depression has you way down in the dumps, the relief that antidepressants sometimes brings can be very welcome. However, with some people for whom these drugs have been prescribed the side effects are more unpleasant than the sadness itself, so treatment is discontinued.
If you want to have the best chance of avoiding a relapse further down the line it is essential you get the right kind of therapy or skills training.
Therapy professionals such as licensed psychologists work with depressed patients to help identify distorted thinking patterns. These may be unreasonably negative thoughts that dominate everyday life. They can also be thoughts that are “black” or “white,” where everything is characterized as either “bad” or “good.” Therapy for depression helps nurture a more positive outlook on life.
Taking back your life
When discussing using the treatment of depression with psychotherapy it’s important to make some distinction in the types of available cures. While some have been shown to have high success rates, others may be less effective than actually leaving the depression untreated.
Additionally, in some cases having one instance of despair can increase the risk of experiencing another episode. The more incidents of depression a person has, the more likely future lapses will be just as severe if not even worse.
However, there is good news. New research suggests that ongoing depression psychotherapy may lessen the cycle of future depression or reduce its intensity. This type of therapy focuses on how to lessen these contributing factors by taking positive steps to improve the situations.
Therapy for depression works in many ways, utilizing emotional support, problem solving, examining and changing thinking styles, checking to ensure basic needs are met, looking at behavior, teaching social and other skills and so on.
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Conquering depression
Through this methodology people can learn important techniques to avoid unnecessary suffering from later bouts of depression. Constructive therapy or counseling for depression helps people see choices as well as gradually incorporate enjoyable, fulfilling activities back into their lives.
Remember, healing begins once the patient understands everyday circumstances and events that may be contributing to their depression. Regain a sense of control and pleasure in life whether it’s through medication, therapy and self-help or an alternative treatment option and your life begins anew.
In fact, the quickest way to lift depression is in a recognized and credible program that will teach you how to break that cycle of despair as quickly as possible, in as many places as possible and instill in you the ability to ensure it stays away.
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Written By: Sprout Editorial Team
The Sprout Health Group editorial team is passionate about addiction treatment, recovery and mental health issues. Every article is expert-reviewed.