What's really best for depression?
Mental health practitioners tend to believe that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), or other psychotherapies, together with antidepressants make up the best treatment combination for people with moderate to major depression. Some practitioners prefer to provide information and encourage patient/client/consumer choice of what therapy, or therapies, they want. But wait -- here's information on a study that indicated that the effectiveness of treatment is significantly dependent on patient choice, described on a WebMD page.
Research studies tend to compare psychotherapy -- or, more commonly, CBT -- to antidepressants, rather than looking at these together. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) appears to be as, or even a little more, effective than antidepressants, according to much of the research. See this abstract from a literature review study in the Clinical Psychology Review on CiteULike.
People with mild depression can probably do just as well with exercise and positive self-talk as medications and therapy, as reported in this story on Wrong Diagnosis.
So, what's really best for depression? There's no one answer to fit all. Yet, self-care, including exercise, reading up on treatment choices and selecting what you think will work for you make up a good start. Beyond that, stick with the medication that works and/or the CBT or psychotherapy that's working. If one isn't working, try another.
Have you experienced depression? What has worked for you?
Research studies tend to compare psychotherapy -- or, more commonly, CBT -- to antidepressants, rather than looking at these together. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) appears to be as, or even a little more, effective than antidepressants, according to much of the research. See this abstract from a literature review study in the Clinical Psychology Review on CiteULike.
People with mild depression can probably do just as well with exercise and positive self-talk as medications and therapy, as reported in this story on Wrong Diagnosis.
So, what's really best for depression? There's no one answer to fit all. Yet, self-care, including exercise, reading up on treatment choices and selecting what you think will work for you make up a good start. Beyond that, stick with the medication that works and/or the CBT or psychotherapy that's working. If one isn't working, try another.
Have you experienced depression? What has worked for you?
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