Depression is a type of mood disorder wherein an individual feels persistent sadness and emptiness. It impacts your daily life, making it a challenge to function productively.
These intense feelings of hopelessness and lack of energy may last for days, weeks, or months. It can also lead to various emotional and physical problems.
People struggling with depression may have difficulty focusing, remembering details, and making decisions. They can’t sleep, or they sleep excessively almost every day. They find no interest in doing activities or hobbies they used to love. They may also experience appetite changes.
An estimated 21 million people in the United States have experienced a major depressive episode in 2020. Considering the prevalence and gravity of this mental disorder, we all need to understand how to recover from depression.
6 Ways To Treat Depression
Here are some treatments that can increase the chances of achieving remission.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is the most common form of depression treatment. It involves different techniques to help individuals increase awareness of their thoughts and behaviors and adjust healthily to difficult situations.
During psychotherapy, the patient talks to a mental health professional who will guide them in identifying the factors that cause their depression.
Addressing the psychological aspects of depression is just as critical as treating its medical cause. When you discuss your concerns with a therapist, you can enhance your mood, change how you feel about yourself, and improve your coping mechanisms.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a psychotherapy technique that is proven to be effective. It enables people to change inaccurate beliefs about themselves and the things around them.
With the help of a therapist, the patient replaces negative, self-defeating thoughts with more encouraging and realistic ones.
Antidepressant Medications
When combined with therapy and other holistic treatments, medications are effective in treating depression as well. There are several antidepressants available, each with its own set of benefits and risks.
Your doctor may consider different factors when prescribing a medication for you. This includes your symptoms, side effects, other medications you’re taking, and other health conditions.
How long to recover from depression using antidepressants?
Once patients find a medication effective, they can see changes as early as two weeks. However, some patients may not see improvement in symptoms for four to six weeks. Some need to take antidepressants for a year before seeing results.
Inpatient Treatment
When the case of depression is so severe that it poses a threat to the person or others, intensive therapy is necessary.
You need to stay in the hospital or residential facility to receive full-time treatment. This will give you easy access to resources and a supportive community to support your recovery.
During treatment, psychotherapists will assess your situation and find any underlying problem contributing to your depression. Once identified, they can start with the counseling sessions.
Individualized and group therapy sessions will enable you to work through emotional issues like trauma, phobias, anxiety, and low self-esteem.
They may also offer different holistic approaches like yoga, meditation, art therapy, life skills treatment, and exercise to relax your mind and spirit.
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
This technique is used for patients with treatment-resistant depression. It is performed by a team of professionals that consists of a psychiatrist, an anesthesiologist, and a nurse.
This painless procedure involves the electrical stimulation of the brain. Before undergoing treatment, the patient will be given general anesthesia and a muscle relaxant.
Afterwards, electrodes will be attached to the particular areas of the scalp. While the patient is asleep, they will stimulate your brain with a series of electrical pulses. Since you’re under anesthesia, you won’t feel any current.
This treatment can enhance one’s brain’s chemistry, flooding the brain with neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine. While this helps relieve the symptoms of depression, there’s a risk of experiencing memory loss.
Alternative Medicine
It is an all-encompassing term for treatments that are not classified under the standard Western medical practice. It involves various disciplines, from exercise to mental conditioning. Here are some examples.
- Acupuncture. It is the process of putting thin needles into specific body parts. It is believed to cure you of your illness by correcting imbalances.
- Reflexology. Applying pressure to several areas of your body improves mood and relieves tension.
- Exercise. Walking, swimming, running, biking, etc., can boost your energy and lower stress levels.
- Meditation. It clears your mind by focusing on one thought, word, or scenery.
- Massage. It strengthens the mind-body connection, allowing you to relax and reduce the symptoms of depression.
- Yoga. It improves your overall well-being by doing specific exercises and breathing techniques.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
Can we recover from depression without treatment? Well, it depends on the severity of your condition. If you still experience depression despite going to therapy or taking medications, you can consider alternatives like Transcranial Stimulation.
This treatment delivers repetitive magnetic impulses through your scalp to stimulate brain areas responsible for mood regulation.
Unlike ECT, TMS doesn’t require anesthesia, and patients remain conscious throughout the noninvasive process. It’s mostly safe, with patients only presenting mild side effects, including headaches, muscle twitches, and pain on the stimulation site.
TMS is typically administered five days a week for four-to-six weeks. Some individuals may feel its benefits within the first two weeks of treatment, while others take several weeks.
About 50 to 60 percent of people struggling with depression have tried and failed to get relief from medications but found a significant response with TMS. One-third of this population had a complete remission, which means their symptoms disappeared completely.
Do People Recover From Depression?
Yes, recovering from depression is possible. However, it’s not always easy. It’s different from getting injured physically, wherein your doctor can tell about the specifics of your recovery.
When you have this disease, you don’t know how long it takes to see any improvement. It usually depends on several factors, such as the severity of diagnosis, treatment type and length, and the patient’s response to treatment.
It is crucial to understand depression and its symptoms so that you can address it right away. Have an evaluation performed by a mental health professional and look at the treatment options available.
If you’re suffering from major depression that has failed to respond to standard treatment approaches, you may be eligible for TMS therapy.
Roots Through Recovery offers TMS for depression to stabilize your mood and achieve long-term remission. Schedule a consultation with us whenever you’re most comfortable. You may reach us at (562) 526-1748.