Psych-Mat

How to make your treatment for depression more effective and successful

Today’s post is directed at those who are depressed and are contemplating or already receiving treatment from a mental health professional such as a psychologist. I want to share with you some suggestions about how you can optimize the effectiveness of treatment for depression.  These suggestions are based on both published research and from my experience as a psychotherapist and as someone who has had personal experience with depression.  Most of these suggestions hold true not only for the treatment of depression but for the treatment of any psychological problem.

Depression is complex in its origin and no one therapeutic strategy works for everyone

My first suggestion is that you understand that there is no single way to treat depression.  As discussed in a previous post, depression is very complex in its causation and manifestations: one must consider genes, environment, and the interactions between these factors.  Since each one of these factors is unique for each individual, each person’s depression is different in its causation, in the way it manifests itself, and correspondingly in the way or ways it can be alleviated.  Hence there is no single miracle “cure” for depression that works for everyone. 

 

Treatment of clinical depression.

In a previous post I described the various ways depression can manifest itself and in today’s post I wish 
to focus on ways to cope with or treat clinical depression.

If you think you might be depressed, I have described in this post the steps to take to alleviate this very treatable condition.  To summarize they are:

• consult a mental health professional to obtain a qualified assessment of the degree of seriousness of your mood disturbance

• obtain from this professional a recommendation of what steps you can take to alleviate whatever degree of depression you have
• get actively involved in your recovery program
• develop a “Maintenance program” to maintain your recovery.

Are you experiencing normal sadness or clinical depression?

In the previous post I discussed the ways that ordinary sadness and clinical depression are distinguished.  However this is not always easy.  For example if you have experienced depression over a long period of time, perhaps from childhood, it may seem “normal” to you but it most definitely is not.  Therefore I recommend that you have a “depression check up” from a competent mental health professional such as a psychologist, psychiatrist or social worker. 

What causes depression?

Why it is important to understand the causes of clinical depression?

Probably the most important reason for having an understanding of what causes depression is that it enables one to design the optimal treatment plan. For example, if you moved from the tropics to Canada and did not see the sun for days at a time then, your psychotherapist might point out that there is scientific evidence that lack of sunlight is correlated with depression and suggest that light therapy might be the treatment of choice.  Another reason for knowing the cause of our depression is that many of us are curious to know what happened to us.  Furthermore if we don’t know why we are depressed, our depression can talk us into believing that we brought it upon ourselves because we are bad or stupid people or that we should feel guilty even for being depressed. Understanding the cause of depression can stop us from this kind of self blaming.

The causes of clinical depression are usually extremely complex.  Recent research has shown that the cause of clinical depression can be surprisingly complex:

What you should know about depression and how to manage it

How does clinical depression differ from normal sadness?

There are three important questions about depression which I often get asked in my clinical practice:

• How does clinical depression differ from normal sadness?
• What causes depression?
• What cures depression?

 
In today’s post I will answer the first question concerning how depression is defined. In following posts I will answer the other two.

We all experience te occasional few hours or even a few days in which we feel sad, or have the “blues”.  But how is this different from what a mental health professional would diagnose as clinical depression?   The answer is not simple; clinical experience suggests that three factors must be considered: the severity, duration, and context of the mood of sadness.