Depressed People Must Seek Depression Treatment
Treat Depression with Mental Health Services & Overcoming Addiction
Dec 5, 2008
Depression is a common, seriously debilitating health condition that often goes unacknowledged and untreated. Depression treatment is the most effective way to overcome depression. Mental health services provide qualified counselors trained to assist depressed people. Addiction treatment is often a necessary key component of overcoming depression.
One in 10: A Nation Full of Depressed People
According to statistics issued by the National Institute of Mental Health, “major depressive disorder is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. for ages 15-44,” affecting nearly 15 million adults. An additional 3.3 million suffer from chronic, mild depression (dysthymic disorder), and 5.7 from bipolar disorder. Altogether, this means that in any given year nearly 10 percent of the U.S. adult population suffers from a mood disorder.
Unfortunately, many victims of depression suffer in silence, feeling ashamed or fearful of the stigma still too often associated with mental illness. However, depression is not a sign of character weakness. It is a serious mental disorder that requires active treatment. Untreated depression can have countless ill effects on both the depressed person and their associates.
Seek Treatment for Depression
The first step to overcoming depression is seeking the proper help one needs to overcome depression — and believing that it will help. Even if a depressed person believes that he or she is not worth healing, thinking of loved ones and relatives can help provide the impetus for seeking help.
Many communities provide confidential mental health services on a sliding-scale fee basis. A simple phone call starts the process. If calling seems too difficult, have a friend, loved one, or associate call to set up the appointment and take responsibility for driving one there.
It may take a few weeks or a few years of counseling to get one’s path to recovery jumpstarted, depending on the level of depression and the source of it, as well as a person’s responsiveness to counseling. Medications may also be suggested and prescribed to aid in countering depressive tendencies.
Once the healing process has begun, the depressed person will likely be able to effectively employ some self-help methods to encourage the slow climb out of the darkness and into the light.
Seek Addiction Treatment
Part of defeating depression often involves overcoming addiction. Addictions are frequently used by depressed people to help them cope with their depression. Addictions can be common and obvious, such as caffeine, alcohol, drugs, gambling, shopping, food, and sex. Addictions can also be less obvious, such as the patterns of habitual negative thinking engrained in one’s neural pathways, or the group of friends that encourages negative thinking and addictive behaviors.
The counselor can help the addicted person to make an honest list of one’s addictions. It’s then best to work, with the counselor’s aid, on curtailing them one at a time. Tackling all of them at once is overwhelming and unrealistic. Start with one, and gently work at removing it from one’s pattern of living, just as one would gently try to work a fragile fossil loose from the matrix that’s been holding it in place for centuries.
One can also benefit greatly by seeking support through a group such as Alcoholics Anonymous that specifically tackles the issues faced by the recovering addict. A person’s choice to distance themselves from addicted friends is also a wise and healthy choice that promotes healing and moves them toward a healthier mental state.
Overcome Depression
Too many depressed people don’t seek the treatment for depression that is available. Mental health services can help with both depression treatment and addiction treatment. There is hope for depressed people to overcome depression.
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