Therapy and Other Treatments
There are a few kinds of therapies that can help with depression. All of them involve talking through your problems with a counselor. The counselor has an outside perspective on your life. They're in a better position to be objective about what you're going through, since they're not the ones who are up to their neck in the problems. All on its own, that's really helpful. But on top of that, therapists have tools you can use to help identify and work on some of the problems contributing to your depression. The therapies best suited for treating depression are all evidence-based. That is to say, people have actual clinical research, and these treatments have been shown to work. There are three main types.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy helps people recognize things that are contributing to their depression. It focuses on showing you how depression affects your outlook, and how that distorted outlook affects your behavior. It helps you learn how to interpret your environment in a more positive, realistic way, rather than trusting what your depression is leading you to believe.
Interpersonal therapy helps you understand and explore the relationships in your life that might be contributing to the depression. It’s very structured, and meant to be completed in a short period of time – usually 12 to 16 weeks.
Problem-solving therapy is a short-term therapy, usually used for older adults, that helps you identify problems and reach realistic solutions to them. It’s all about understanding how your negative behaviors may have arisen as coping mechanisms to the problems you’ve faced. And then it's about moving past them. Sometimes our old coping mechanisms can cause problems of their own, and they’re hard to let go of. Problem-solving therapy aims to reduce those dysfunctional attempts at problem-solving, and develop healthier habits in their place.
What other treatments are there?
If all else fails, doctors may recommend more extreme measures. People who are an immediate danger to themselves or to others may need to be committed to an inpatient psychiatric care facility. In extreme cases, brain stimulation may be used. Electro-convulsive therapy may seem brutish and outdated, but it can actually help in extreme cases of depression. People receive appropriate anesthesia nowadays, and don't experience pain during the treatment. That said, we don’t use it often, because the side-effects can be pretty severe. Still, for someone who’s depressed enough that they’re a danger to themselves, if nothing else seems to work, ECT can help. A newer type of brain stimulation uses magnets, instead. It’s called transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS.
Image: Morgan Harper Nichols, via Unsplash.
Did you know...
- Are you currently or often tired? As contradictory as it may sound, one of the best things you can do is exercise! It gives you more energy by improving your blood flow and increasing your oxygen throughout your body. You don't need to do much; a brisk walk is all it takes!
- Need a quick cool down? Try drinking some hot liquid. It's true! As counterintuitive as it may seem, the heat from hot liquids will raise your body temperature. This will heat you up and cause you to sweat. The increased perspiration will wind up helping you feel cooler as it evaporates. Try it out!
- There are many factors that contribute to your body odor, but one of the strongest links is our diet. This may be some bad news for meat-lovers because many studies have shown that those who refrained from or ate less red meat were judged as being more pleasant smelling. The meat sweats are real, and they don’t smell great!
- Just saying the words "thank you" can measurably improve your mood. Researchers can actually measure happiness and changes in brain structure when people practiced regular "grateful thinking." This included things like writing thank you notes, writing gratitude journal entries, mindfully counting their blessings, and thanking friends. It may be helpful in overcoming depression!
- Do you know what the strongest muscle in your body is? No, it’s not your biceps or your thighs. It’s actually in your head. The masseter is a muscle in the jaw that is used when chewing. When all of the muscles of the jaw work together, they can exert a force as strong as 200 pounds on the molars. That’s some serious pressure.