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You are here: Home / Choices in Healing – Depression Treatment

Choices in Healing – Depression Treatment

When you seek out help to deal with depression, you have a lot of choices about how to approach depression treatment, but you might not realize it. If you head to a primary care physician or health clinic, you’ll most likely get a prescription for an antidepressant. Medication may give you exactly the relief you need, but many people do not respond to antidepressants.

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In that case, you have to start looking for more effective methods, but information about the great variety of therapies can be hard to get. Finding something that works is usually a trial-and-error process that can take a long time, even years.

Storied Mind has a lot that may be helpful to you in this search. The core posts listed here explore the early phases of finding the right treatment: learning as much as you can about your specific symptoms; dealing with doubts that can block your commitment to getting well; and ideas about how to get started. The posts listed in the sections on Psychiatric Medical Treatment, Psychotherapy and Self-Help describe many specific forms of therapy from the perspective of someone trying to get well.

Recovery from Depression: the Power of Expectation

Recovery from depression depends in part on what you believe is possible for the future. If you are to recover at all, you have to take action at some point. It could be a series of small steps about your daily routine – eating breakfast, walking out the door to get fresh air and natural […]

Achieving Profound Change with Coherence Therapy

Achieving Profound Change with Coherence Therapy

Psychotherapists can help us make breakthroughs in dealing with depression, but often the insights gained during a session don’t lead to permanent change. Why is it that we can’t always put the new insight into daily use and sometimes forget it as soon as we’re out of the room? That’s the problem that a new […]

Mapping Recovery-1: The Big Picture of Depression Symptoms

Mapping Recovery-1: The Big Picture of Depression Symptoms

This post is the first in a series about how you can help yourself begin recovery. Depression can be a powerhouse of misery that leaves you feeling helpless, but it’s not one massive force, whatever it may feel like. Depression is a combination of several conditions, and there are effective ways to deal with each […]

Has Depression Become Part of Your Identity?

I can pinpoint a moment when I came to believe that depression was not just an illness that struck from time to time but part of my identity as a person. I was talking with a friend one day about how big a problem depression had become. He thought it must be brought on by […]

Is There a Roadmap for Recovery?

Is There a Roadmap for Recovery?

Let’s say you’ve committed yourself to do whatever it might take to recover from depression. But then what? There are many forms of treatment to choose from, chief among them these days are medication and cognitive therapy. There are also other forms of psychotherapy, mindfulness meditation, changes in nutrition, regular physical exercise – and those are just the beginning. They always seemed to me like puzzle pieces. No one of them let me see much, yet I needed a big picture to understand how to fit them together.

Why Therapy Can Work: Ideas from Brain Research

Brain research is one of those many scientific fields that I’ll never know much about, but I find it important to get even a limited understanding of the direction of recent findings. It helps me to know, for example, that emotions are generated unconsciously through multiple brain systems before anything gets to awareness. As I […]

Declaring Independence from Depression

Here’s one part of a post from a couple of years ago, written a few months before I knew I’d really gotten past depression. Stephany at Soulful Sepulcher had suggested that I try assuming this: I have recovered. That really got me thinking and actually proved to be a turning point. I started imagining what […]

Is There Comfort in Depression?

The question continues to puzzle me: How did I get over depression? That deep change began about 18 months ago, and it’s been a year since I knew for sure that something fundamental had shifted. The nemesis wasn’t after me anymore. In fact, I couldn’t find that thing anywhere near me. After so many temporary […]

Fighting Depression: Why Get Well?

Recently, I’ve started asking myself a basic question: Why get well? What do I really want in fighting depression? After all, if I’m working on recovery, I ought to be able to see what I’m aiming for. I thought for a long time that what I wanted was to be free of depression. That would […]

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Andrea says

    August 31, 2021 at 11:09 am

    Good article. I’m going to come back again for more!!

    Reply
  2. Lucas says

    September 14, 2020 at 4:21 am

    Amazing post! From my point of view, it is a must-read for those dealing with depression and are trying to feel better.

    Reply
    • Lidia says

      August 30, 2021 at 9:22 am

      It is true, you are absolutely right.

      Reply
  3. Jayna says

    September 5, 2018 at 5:21 pm

    Everyone should definitely focus on what works best for them, as we’re all so different. I’ve been taking a natural supplement as of late that combines all of the essential micronutrients we need to function and it has really been working for me! Here’s a link to the supplement I found: http://bit.ly/2MXFLA8
    And to the research supporting its effectiveness: http://bit.ly/2wavcCU

    Reply
  4. Joyce says

    December 10, 2017 at 7:45 pm

    Depression is very complex and I agree with you that finding something that works is definitely a trial-and-error-process that takes a very long time. I’ve treated clients where we sometimes need to go through 5 or more different therapeutic methods before something begins to work. Thank you for your blog and sharing your story!

    Reply
  5. Alex says

    June 21, 2015 at 4:24 pm

    Great post about dealing with depression. I think it is important to reach out and seek help wether if you are experiencing severe suicidal feelings or mild depression. Also, its important to seek for non-pharmacological treatments, as the “happiness pills” are only temporary solutions to the problem.

    People need to go to the root of their depression and overcome it from there, not cut of one branch of the problem (as you do with drugs) because the problem will eventually grow out again.

    Reply
  6. Leslye Jacobs says

    August 24, 2014 at 9:27 am

    Wanted to share 3 helpful cases of clients that healed their depression – all stemming from different root causes. Some come for healing with out realizing that the depression is the underlying cause of the issues we heal.. Othertimes clients come who proactively want to get better. The key is to never give up and keep trying out different healing modalities to see what resonnates. Depression is such a personal journey and for those not open or comfortable with discussing it.. that is okay as despite the numerous articles advocating yoga and “talk therapy” – the work we do together to heal the depression doesnt not require much dialogue -only an open heart and mind and your participation in the session. Thank you.. Love, light and heartfelt prayers for those suffering from depression. Love, Leslye
    Here is the article … link…: http://www.worldviewzmedia.net/profiles/blogs/healing-clients-with-depression-3-different-case-studies-for

    please feel free to email me at exit27healing@gmail.com

    Reply
  7. Kathy says

    October 28, 2013 at 7:29 pm

    My husband is depressed and I am convinced he is on the wrong medication as he is still suffering negative thought cycles, suicidal thoughts, and engages in self injurious behaviours. There are days when he can fight through and we have few go days and then depression wins and he’s in bed at 7pm, too tired to do anything and too consumed with negative thoughts to see his way out. I know meds are not the only but shouldn’t they help him feel better- at least enough to not be tired all the time? Or to get out of the suicidal thinking? I want to go to the dr with him, as I’m not sure he really communicates the depth of his depression. Advice? Thoughts on meds? How long does it take to find the right combination of meds? How frequently do you go back the the dr to see if the meds are working? (He’s been waiting 6 mos.)

    Reply
  8. Sam says

    March 15, 2012 at 2:44 am

    Depression is a very severe state of mind, where one is in uttermost negative state of mind.
    After my long term relationship broke, I was in depression for a while and it took months and lot of self motivation and self-learning to get out of it.

    Reply
    • John Folk-Williams says

      March 16, 2012 at 9:50 pm

      Hi, Sam –

      I’m glad you were able to get out of depression by self-motivation and self-learning. Maybe someday you could share some of the story about how you did it. That would help more people than you might think.

      Thanks for your comment.

      John

      Reply
  9. andyking @ emedoutlet says

    December 28, 2011 at 3:33 am

    I have heard, observed, witnessed depression recovery with the help of yoga and meditation. May be not suitable for everyone, however no harm in giving it a try. It does not cost and has no side effects.

    One thing you have to make sure that this could be a long process. It may take long time. It needs lots of patience.

    Reply
    • John Folk-Williams says

      December 30, 2011 at 9:20 pm

      Hi, Andy –

      You’re wise to see that it can take a long time to undo all the damage that depression causes. I think yoga and meditation are both capable of helping enormously. The approach of mindfulness meditation is the best for me and has had deep effects in my life.

      John

      Reply
      • Dr. Janelle Louis, ND says

        September 3, 2017 at 6:58 pm

        I couldn’t agree more. Some people report that psychotropic medication is the only thing that helps them live a semblance of a functional life; others find that their symptoms are worsened on such medication. Restoring the foundation for health, isolating the root cause of the issue, and addressing it using the least invasive yet effective methods possible is what I’ve found to work for a variety of people who don’t respond to (or respond negatively to) medication.

        I love your comment, John Folk-Williams; you’re absolutely right. Thanks for sharing this: “You’re wise to see that it can take a long time to undo all the damage that depression causes.” I like to think about it like this: it didn’t take a day or even a week for any of us to get to the state of health where we find ourselves today, so, if we perceive it to be sub-optimal, it wont take a day or a week to get back to a state of true wellness.

        Reply

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