How to Treat Depression without Meds?

With a recognized epidemic of depression, and the advertising of all sorts of antidepressant drugs, we may well ask if drugs are the only way to treat depression.

After all, there have been well-documented cases of antidepressant drugs actually increasing the risk of suicidal thoughts and acts, particularly in young adults.

However, it is important to recognize that serious clinical depression, with a known chemical cause, must be treated appropriately with medication.

For those with milder bouts of depression – perhaps feeling “blue” more often than not, or for those who want to prevent depression, there may be some other ways to deal with this illness…

• First of all, there is psychotherapy that should be an adjunct to drugs in cases of depression. Some types of depression may not have a chemical cause, but instead be driven by life experiences – a dysfunctional home life, loss of a loved one, etc. In these cases, counseling is very important.

• In addition to counseling, there are other treatments that are being encouraged to fight depression.One major school of thought is nutritional balance and the use of herbs. Both body and mind need to be nourished appropriately to be in balance. It is believed that “food stress” or the ingestion of foods that are bad for you – too much sugar, calories, etc. put stress on bodily functions, so that your body and your mind cannot operate as efficiently as it should. (Source: www.emaxhealth.com).In addition, herbs, such as St. John’s Wort have been touted to be almost as effective as some anti-depressant drugs.

Another school of thought is that doctors today are treating many maladies and feelings of sadness as “depression”, when in fact these feelings are a natural part of our existence.

Life is not a bowl of cherries, after all. We all have to go through bad times, sad times and everything in between.

An article by the University of Otago, ChristChurch, questions the “epidemic of depression” theory, stating that, in fact, what we’re seeing is that doctors are just treating people with the “blues” with available medications so that they will feel better.

These doctors may not be taking into account what is really behind the “depression”, or if it is, in fact, truly clinical depression.

It is clear that depression needs to be treated according to its origin and severity. There are some cases that are so mild that an exercise program, good nutrition, change of scenery, etc. might just be enough to help an individual.

On the other hand, serious clinical depression may respond only to a combination of medication, counseling and other support.

Other resources:

• Do We Have an Epidemic of Depression?
• How to Deal with Depression?

Let me know what do you think? Add your comment below…

Photo by Esther_G–flickr.com.

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