Natural and Therapeutic Treatments for Depression

Treatment through Life Style Changes

The simplest way to treat your depression is by changing the way you live. Following are some life style changes that you can try:

•Exercise: Exercising relieves stress, so we hear, but what some people do not know is that when you exercise you are releasing certain chemicals (Endorphins) in your brain that will help you feel better; these chemicals are known to boost your mood. Try putting in three days a week if you don't have much time in your schedule. Try it for a month or two and see how you feel.

•Sleep: Another life style change that you can adapt to is sleeping well. Make sure that you get enough sleep because sleep deprivation causes irritability, mood swings, sadness, and fatigue which in turn may trigger depression.

•Stay Connected: Staying connected with others is another way to treat depression. It will help you reach out to someone. Isolation and depression go hand in hand with each other, therefore, try to keep in touch with family and friends.

•Reduce Stress: Stress is a big factor for depression. Find ways in which you can reduce or eliminate stress in your life. When people think of the word stress, they automatically assume that work is the only stress, but stress can come from a lot of different resources such as, having an unorganized house, having negative people around you, and stress can even come from you not working or doing anything productive enough, something that can make you feel proud.

•Thought Processes: Sometimes depression maybe caused by the way we think. Try to eliminate negative self-talk and aim for positive thinking. I am a true believer of the saying: "everything that happens, happens for a reason." That is, something good comes out of every bad situation. Whenever something bad hits you, try to get something good out of it.

Now, let's look at some treatments through therapy:

Treatment through Therapy

If you feel that you need to simply talk about your problems, then seek help through a therapist. One thing to consider when seeking a therapist is the connection that you will have with the therapist. You want to find a therapist who will be caring and considerate. Ask your primary doctor for a referral. Look around in your local area for community mental health clinics for support; the cost could be much cheaper.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on maladaptive patterns of thought processes to figure out what causes of the way people think. For example, a depressed person may think that he or she is worthless and insignificant, but with this therapy, the individual will be encouraged to treat such thinking as hypotheses, not as facts and to test their hypotheses through experiments to prove how right they think they are. Clients using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy will be keeping a log of their thought processes in order for them to determine maladaptive thought patterns and turn them into positive thought patterns. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is problem focused and goal-oriented (Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, n.d.).

Psychodynamic Therapy

Psychodynamic Therapy focuses on clients' self-awareness. It encourages clients to understand the influence that their past has- on their current behaviors. This approach enables clients to observe any unresolved conflicts that may still exist from past dysfunctional events (Haggerty, n.d.). This therapy is effective as it helps depressed clients gain insight about themselves by understating how different behaviors in their life has occurred (Stagno, 2008).

Interpersonal Therapy

Interpersonal therapy focuses on the individual's personal relationships. The goal of interpersonal therapy is to improve the depressed person's communication pattern and help improve how he or she relates to others. A few techniques used during the Interpersonal Therapy are helping clients identify their emotions and their causes, helping clients express their emotions, and dealing entirely with all of their emotions (Herkov, n.d.).

Treatment through Medications

Even though depression medications are the most advertised treatment, that does not mean that it is the most effective treatment. Because depression is not just due to a chemical imbalance in the brain, medications may help relieve some symptoms, but it will not completely cure the problem as it is only a short term solution. Depression medications come with side effects and once taken off the medications, withdrawal can be tough. If you decide to treat depression through medications, make sure to learn all about the facts of the prescription. Also, remember that there are other treatments such as lifestyle changes and or therapy such as the mentioned above that can be a better choice of treatment than medications.

References

•Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. (n.d.). Retrieved on May 26, 2011.
•Haggerty, J. (n.d.). Psychodynamic Therapy. Retrieved on May 26, 2011.
•Herkov, M. (n.d.). About Interpersonal Therapy. Retrieved on May 26, 2011.
•Stagno, S. (n.d.). How Effective is Psychodynamic Therapy For the Treatment of Depression? Retrieved on May 26, 2011

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