A Psychotherapy Overview.
Before digging deeper into medications for Depression, we'll have a very quick look at therapies for this condition.
By no means all psychotherapists are created equal.
There are those who can actually worsen a patient's Depression.
If it's decided to use therapy for treating Depression, then it's vital to decide on the correct treatment.
Some are extremely successful, while others are so ineffective that the patient's better of with his or her Depression! What is Therapy? How Does It Work? Basically, therapy's another name for counselling, and it works in many ways.
There are a great number of methods used, which is why it should never be considered as a 'one size fits all' type of treatment.
There are specialists in the treatment of Depression and other mental conditions, just as there are brain surgeons and heart specialists in physical medicine.
Therapy offers emotional support and helps with problem solving.
It examines and changes thinking styles.
It ensures that a patient's basic emotional needs are being seen to.
It teaches social skills, but in my view the most vital role it plays is in changing thinking styles.
It's so important for the depressive to change his or her thinking from the negative to the positive.
A good illustration of therapy is to consider the Cycle of Depression, which we looked at earlier on.
A quick revision won't hurt.
It starts off, naturally enough, with negative thinking.
We think negatively, so the more we dream.
The more we dream, the less proper, restful sleep we have.
Because of this, we become exhausted and consider all real life events in a depressive fashion.
Our immune system becomes affected and our health worsens.
Therefore, we come more depressed.
And on, and on.
Good therapists will quickly break this cycle in as many places as they can, and will give you the ability and information to ensure that the cycle remains broken.
They do this by disbanding your negative ruminations, or brooding as we like to call it, and turn your mind from negative to positive thinking.
Ever since I can remember, I've found it very difficult to accept praise.
This goes all the way back into childhood, of course, when you were told never to let praise affect you in any way, in case you developed the dreaded 'Big Head!' Despite the fact that my thinking's far more positive these days, I still feel very awkward when someone compliments me about something I've done.
When I was a boy, praise was so scant that if you received any, you had to rush to the dictionary to find out what the word meant! We'll be dealing with different therapies in some depth later, but at least the foregoing gives some idea of how therapy works