Before wondering how to treat depression, you must first figure out if you are depressed enough to seek medical or professional help. Depression is a common mental ailment that might change your mood drastically. Though stress and anxiety in your daily life can cause temporary depression, in some chronic cases, you might need to see a doctor or therapist.
Recommended Read: Natural Remedies for Depression
Signs and symptoms of depression
- Sad feelings that overwhelm you frequently
- If you are feeling hopeless or worthless
- Insomnia or oversleeping
- Constant anger and anxiety
- tired and lethargic
- concentration problem
- Sudden weight fluctuations or changes in eating habits
- Frequent muscle pain or headaches
- Suicidal thoughts
If you ignore these feelings and refuse to seek help, you might end up feeling lonely, ashamed of your condition, and fearing emotions or interactions. It might become impossible to get daily chores like eating or bathing done. Unhappy incidents, problems in relationships, and sudden social transitions can often lead to depression, but you can overcome this situation by thinking positive and getting help.
Recommended Read: 5 Early Signs of Depression
Types of depression treatment
Psychotherapy
You can go either for group or one-on-one therapy as per your comfort. With a trained therapist, you will be able to discuss your thoughts, feelings, and fears easily. Your doctor will help you channel your thoughts positively.
Depression therapy activities
This can involve many mindfulness exercises and techniques that will help you focus on positive things in life and stay away from thoughts that make you angry, stressed or sad. It can include:
- Mindfulness of sounds, thoughts, and breath
- Acceptance of feelings and thoughts exercises
- Meditation
- Body scan where you have to pay special attention to each part of your body one by one – toes, rest of the feet, lower legs, knees, thighs, pelvic area, abdomen, chest, lower back, upper back, hands, arms, neck, face, and head.
- Five senses exercise – where you notice five things each based on what you see, hear, feel, smell, and taste.
- Activities that teach you acknowledgment and acceptance of a situation, patience to fight obstacles, volition to deal with anxiety, ability to handle your feelings, being compassionate to yourself, and broadening of perspective.
Depression Medication
Antidepressants are often administered to chronic patients or even those suffering from mild depression. But though these can treat the symptoms of depression, they cannot fight the root cause of it. Hence, you need to make lifestyle changes and consult a therapist to control depression effectively and prevent it from recurring. Plus, find out if the medicines are going to have side effects.
Alternative Treatments
Relaxation techniques like deep breathing, meditation, and yoga can improve your overall wellbeing and be of great help. Acupuncture has also been found to have positive impacts in some cases. Eating small meals every two hours and replacing sugar with complex carbohydrates are also recommended often. Brisk walking or aerobic exercises can also boost the release of feel-good chemicals like endorphin.
Recommended Read: Natural Remedies for Depression
