by Dr. Isaac Schumann
Health care providers can take care of depressed people. A
physician, for one, has also training in treating psychiatric disorders. The
same goes with the physician assistant and the nurse practitioner. If the case
is severe, these health care providers will automatically refer the patient to
mental health specialists.
The mental health specialists are composed of
the following: psychiatrist, psychologist, a psychiatric nurse specialist and
even a social worker.
The psychiatrist offers treatment and diagnosis for
mental and psychiatric patients. A psychologist, on the other hand, is trained
for counseling, psychological examination and psychotherapy. The social worker
knows counseling to a certain degree, whereas a registered nurse who has taken
masterals in psychiatric nursing can help out the patient.
Before the
diagnosis can be made, the health care providers or mental health specialists
will ask the patient on the following: symptoms, overall health and medical and
mental history of the family. A physical exam will be carried out as well as
some lab tests.
Depression, being an illness, requires tremendous
emotional support from the family. A family member must accompany the patient on
doctor visits to give the latter a boost.
During the course of the visit,
the doctor will figure out if the case is severe, mild or moderate. Depression
is severe if the person experiences all the symptoms and if it keeps him from
doing all his daily activities. Moderate, if the person has a lot of the
symptoms that it hampers his activities. It can be categorized mild if the
person has some of the depression symptoms and if he needs more push to do all
the things he needs to do.
No one must underestimate depression. It is a
real illness, and therefore the patient needs all the help and attention he can
get.
As said earlier, you are not alone in this problem. Fortunately,
depression, of all psychiatric illnesses, proves to be one of the most
treatable. With proper care, more than 80 percent of those suffering from major
depression experience significant improvement. Even those suffering from severe
depression can helped. Here are some treatments for depression
problems:
Psychotherapy There are many types and methods of therapeutic
approaches used for treating depression. The most common types are behavioral
therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, rational emotive therapy, and
interpersonal therapy. Approaches also include psychodynamic and family
approaches. Both the individual as well as group modalities have been used
commonly, but these depend on the severity of one's depression, the financial
resources of the person, and resources that are available
locally.
Arguably the most prominent therapy in treating depression, the
cognitive behavioral therapy is commonly used for handling the condition. There
has been extensive research and medical studies that conducted to check or
assess the safety as well as the effectiveness in treating depression using this
type of therapy.
Considered the father of cognitive behavioral therapy,
many written studies and books support this type of therapy. Cognitive
behavioral therapy uses simple techniques that focus primarily on the patient's
negative thought patterns. These negative thought patterns are also known as
cognitive distortions. A person suffering from depression may from time to time
use these cognitive distortions, igniting the condition.
The therapy
starts with the establishment of a supportive and warm environment for one
suffering from depression. Making the patient learn about how his or her
depression problem may be a result of thinking in cognitive distortions is
generally the next step. The types of faulty logic and thinking are also
discussed in this step (such as "everything or nothing logic," "blame
mis-attribution," "overgeneralization," among others) and the person being
treated is encouraged to start taking notes of the thoughts he or she has been
having as they happen throughout his or her day. This is conducted for the
person to understand and realize how often and common this kind of thoughts are
occuring.
In this type of therapy, the emphasis is mainly placed on
realizing the thoughts as well as the behaviors that are associated with the
depression problem rather than on the emotions themselves. The rationale for
this emphasis is that is strongly believed that by altering one's thoughts and
consequently, behaviors, his or her emotions will most likely change as well.
Because of this type of therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy is often
short-term (generally lasts up to a dozen sessions or two only) and best suits
people that are experiencing some kind of distress that is related to the
depression they are having. Individuals that are able to handle a problem using
a perspective that is unique and therefore are most likely cognitively-oriented
could also do well under this approach.
Interpersonal therapy, on the
other hand, is also a therapy on a short-term basis used for treating
depression. In this type of treatment, the focus usually lies on the social
relationships of the patient and determine ways in improving these
relationships. It is strongly believed that in order to improve the overall
well-being of a person (or the patient in the case); he or she needs to have a
stable and good social support.
When a person's relationships become
unhealthy, the person would most likely suffer from this problem. This therapy
approach then seeks to enrich one's skills in social relationships, expression
of his or her emotions, assertiveness, and communication skills. This type of
approach is usually done individually but sometimes can be used also in a
setting for group therapy.
Many individual approaches would place
importance more on the patient's active personal involvement in recovering from
depression. Persons being treated under an individual approach are usually
enticed and encouraged to finish homework assignments between sessions. If the
person is not capable yet to join in therapy sessions actively, then his or her
therapist could be the one to first provide the patient an environment that
supports him or her until the medication starts to help improve his or her state
of feelings and mind.
Psychodynamic or psychoanalytic approaches in
treating depression currently do not have much research to recommend their use.
Although there are some therapists that might use psychodynamic theory in
helping conceptualize a patient's personality, there are some issues raised on
how this could prove to be an effective and efficient depression
treatment.
Couples or family therapy could also be considered if the
depression of the patient directly affects family relationships. These types of
therapy focus on the interpersonal relationships among family members. In
addition, these approaches seek to ensure good communication in the family. The
roles of the family members in a patient's depression could be examined.
Education about the depression problem in general might also be used as part of
the family therapy.
Medication The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has
approved numerous medications for treating depression. These drugs have been
sorted into classes; each medication has a unique chemical structure which acts
on various chemicals present in the brain.
It is necessary to remember
that all medications approved by the DFA to treat depression are effective and
recommended - they just do not work the same effect for everybody.
You
might want to closely work with the doctor in determining which drug is the best
for your condition. Sometimes, conditions may involve having more than just one
medication; some work with a mixture of medications. This is important: Do not
change your medication or discontinue your dosage without asking your
doctor.
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Dr. Isaac Schumann brings to you a life time of experience
in the mental health field www.depressionhelpguides.com
