Health & Fitness

Depression: Why Is It So Hard to Treat? My Thoughts.

I'll start this off by saying that I've struggled with depression all my life. And I do mean all my life. As newborn I was almost inconsolable. I was brought to doctor's because my mother who was an ER nurse was concerned that I might've developed failure to thrive syndrome.

I wasn't sleeping among other issues.

So over my small amount of time being alive (24 years) I have been in and out of care by mental health professionals and have amassed a small bit of knowledge on the subject.

So a main question I found myself asking was why is depression so hard to treat? Even those in the care of psychiatrists and therapists often aren't doing well as I had connected with them over many online sites and in real life. These are some of the answers I feel apply.

Depression: Why is it so hard to treat? My thoughts.

Medical professionals being the only go to to treat people

Everyone's answer is always the same "go see a doctor or therapist". The problem with this is I don't feel the medical profession has caught up with effective treatments for depression that don't include stereotypical treatments such as clinical drugs or therapy. Not to say these things can't be helpful. But the clinical thoughts of everyone must fit into this treatment to get better isn't effective for treating those who don't fall into the box. If that works for you then keep with it! If it doesn't it mean necessarily mean you aren't working the program it just means your needs are different.

Other treatments being demonized

From supplements to positive facebook quotes often these things are demonized. Why? Probably because people who use them also like medical professionals claim them as the only way and talk down about other treatments.

Lack of knowledge of other therapies and treatments

I've discovered many things I had not known about before that work incredibly well for me. Why didn't I know about it? There could be multiple answers one of them being that new things are being invented all the time.

The depression brain

If you have had depression it's quite possible your brain has actually changed it distorts what you think. How many times have I come out of a crisis thinking that I acted so illogically. Thinking there was no hope and many other thoughts. The brain actually lies to you and it's so convincing.

Lack of support from family due to lack of knowledge about mental illnesses (still)

There are still a lot of myths about mental illnesses and people still embrace them as if they're fact I witness this all the time.

Failure to treat the whole body

We've all heard the benefits of exercising and yoga. Why isn't this part of general treatment plans at hospitals and out patient therapy? Does the person's depression a chemical imbalance caused by environmental or genetic factors? Or perhaps they have difficulty processing folic acid. Or maybe they have a thyroid condition. The whole body should not be overlooked in favor of the most common causes. But this comes down to treating people on a individual basis which is not something people do currently.

Ego>self love? Unhealthy.

If you are living in the U.S. you may have noticed a shift even in the past 20 years towards egotism from shaming people on the internet for saying something dumb to the constant girl fights and jealously. There seems to be a glorification of ego and being critical of self love and acceptance. Ego is not accepting criticism and putting yourself above everyone else. Self acceptance and love is a healthy balance of loving yourself in spite of your flaws not ignoring them completely.

I think this whole movement of not caring about what other's think is unhealthy for a variety of reasons. How do you expect to grow as a person if you never question yourself? People with "big" egos often end up hurting those close to them. And it's unrealistic to be a robot that only care's about it's own opinions.
Everything in moderation folks. Which is what self love is about coming to a more centered point of view not letting people's actions and opinions control your whole life.
Why is this relevant? Well I feel a simple one being that glorification of ego sets you up for failure. Or worse sets you down a path of narcissistic tendencies.

So, there are some of my thoughts on depression.

I'm happy to say I'm doing much better than I ever have in my life. And want to help people when I can and not let them live their life in complete misery the way I did.

Nothing written here is meant to be super judgmental but should make you think.

Depression: Why Is It So Hard to Treat? My Thoughts.

Depression: Why Is It So Hard to Treat? My Thoughts.
Post Opinion