Depression Treatment

There are many different approaches to treating depression. The two most common treatment methods are medication and therapy. Often the most effective treatment is a combination of both of these methods. When you go to a doctor for depression, you will most likely get prescribed some sort of medication (anti-depressants). Many people only take medication, as therapy is very expensive and is not covered by many people's health plans.

Medication

The most common type of anti-depressant medication prescribed is a class of drugs called SSRI's (short for Selective Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitors). The first and most recognizable drug in this class is Prozac, but there are many others as well, such as Zoloft, Lexapro, Celexa, and Paxil. Other anti-depressants to treat depression include Effexor, Cymbalta, and Wellbutrin.

Therapy

The most common type of therapy to treat depression is Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT for short). As the name might suggest, there are two parts to this type of therapy. First, the cognitive part. The goal of cognitive therapy is to change how your mind processes thoughts, and to deal with negative thoughts more effectively. Over the course of a few weeks, you monitor your thoughts and reactions, and learn to identify your negative thoughts, and come up with evidence against them. Essentially, you are "training your brain" to think rationally about negative thoughts, instead of letting them get you depressed. The second part, behavioral therapy, involves working towards changing some of your behaviors that could be affecting or contributing to your depression. For example, if you commonly isolate yourself from others, one of your behavioral goals could be to call a friend and go out for coffee with them, or meet and play a game, etc. The behavioral goals you create will allow you to change some of your behaviors that contribute to your depression to behaviours and activites that help with your depression.

Alternative/Natural Remedies

There are other ways people use to try and treat depression, some of which are not scientifically documented to be helpful--but they may be effective for some people. One common natural remedy is St. John's Wort.

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