Looking for Real Answers?

Depression: looking for REAL answers?

With the assistance of campaigns from various organizations the public is finally becoming aware of the high incidence of depression. More people are prepared to put their hand up and state they are in need of help. The media has reached the point of running monthly segments on the topic as they consistently inform us of the increasing number of celebrities experiencing the psychologically debilitating lows of depression. Support groups are on the increase, and family and friends are desperately joining in the search for answers capable of restoring love one’s psychological spark for life.

Although people rightfully will accept any form of effective assistance, the search for answers is on a progression towards finding a cure rather than simply settling for the first aid affect of drug therapy. But what is it that is pushing this progression along?

The first port of call for a person experiencing depression is often the family medical practitioner. When a diagnosis of depression is established, medication is dispensed not only because it is considered the best option for tackling the problem as quickly as possible, but also because it is usually considered to be addressing the cause. And through anecdotal evidence you could easily accept that it does. A great percentage of people in a very short period of time experience a substantial lift in their mood, which provides great support to the scientific explanation ‘depression is caused by a chemical change that has taken place in the brain, and through the application of medication this cause is addressed’. And everything sounds above board and correct, until the authorities also release a set of statistic claiming that ‘due to the increased level of psychological stress created by the pressures of modern life, there is an increase in the incidence of depression!’

As the hunt for the cure for depression evolves, any evidence of psychological stress being the factor responsible for the increase in the incidence of depression is bound to establish a level of confusion within both the health arena and those people seeking help for depression.

The treatment of any ‘chemical change’ taking place within the body is generally considered to be allocated to the health sciences that deal in dispensing physical medications, whilst the treatment of psychological stress is more often directed towards the psychology fraternity and their efforts to assist with any correction required within a person’s thought processes. For those people suffering depression the confusion is going to be in respects to which fraternity to turn to when seeking help with treating depression. But the confusion within the health arena is going to evolve around two standout topics, being the demarcation dispute over which fraternity the responsibility for treating depression rests with, and also the ‘chicken and egg’ argument about which comes first, either the chemical change or the psychological state.

In reality a person who is suffering sever depression, regardless of whether the condition has been initiated by a ‘chemical change’ that then established the depressed psychological state, or alternatively, a particular psychological state initiated the chemical change and the onset of depression, the person should seek assistance from both resources.

Any severe depression that has its origins attached to deep psychological issues may require the initial intervention of, or we should say ‘assistance of’, medical drug therapy. The psychotherapy required to resolve any such deep psychological issues may take a significant period of time, and this could be a longer period of time than a person with sever depression is interested in hanging around for. And also, any lift in mood offered by medical drugs, even if only offering a band-aid affect, will help in keeping the person alive long enough to receive effective psychotherapy, along with assisting with the person’s mental capability of taking part in such psychotherapy.

If you are suffering depression, or attempting to help someone who you know to suffer depression, try and overlook any conflicts you may encounter between drug or psychotherapy therapy, and willingly take advantage of the best that both fraternities have to offer.