If you are battling depression, you are not alone. Millions of people in the world deal with depression. National Institute of Mental Health statistics estimate that 6.7 percent of adults in the US are likely to experience a major depression disorder in any given year. That may seem like a discouragingly large amount of people, but there are also some up-sides to depression being so widespread. Despite the huge number of people whose lives this mental health condition impacts, the stigma of depression generally paints the picture only a “sick” or “damaged” individual can be depressed. This, of course, is far from reality. As depression awareness spreads, the attitude towards America’s most common mental health disorder is slowly beginning to change.
Here are three positive signs that Depression is starting to become better understood and accepted as a mental health condition rather than a state of mind or personal problem.
- More people who do not have depression are starting to understand it. – As a world population, we are not always great at understanding mental illness and being able to deal with it. We are more likely to want to sweep aside mental health issues, deny their existence, or condemn mental illness because we do not understand it. Because depression is so widespread and becoming more and more so, society is getting to comprehend it a little bit better. One of the things that is fueling this understanding is that it is difficult these days to find anyone who has not been touched by depression. Empathy is increased by that kind of connection. This could mean that the future of depression is more understanding, and this could also pave the way for better understanding of mental illness in general.
- We are beginning to understand that depression is very treatable. – Much research has been done into the treatments for depression, and they have proven to be very effective. When people with depressive disorders receive the proper treatment, they improve quite a bit. The most successful treatments for depression usually include cognitive behavior therapy, antidepressant medication, and a variety of alternative therapies including acupuncture, meditation, and biofeedback. A combination of therapies can be very successful at treating different kinds of depression. The sooner a depression sufferer starts to receive treatment after symptoms present themselves, the better the chances will be of a successful recovery.
- More forms of depression treatment are becoming accepted and the options are growing. – There are new medications that could be coming to the market in the next few years that could treat depression faster than the antidepressants that are currently available. Expected to be available as soon as 2017, ketamine, an anesthetic, is currently being studied as a potential ingredient for antidepressant medication. A new therapy calls positive psychology is being tested as well. Positive psychology works on building “positive emotions, character strengths, and a sense of meaning” instead of the typical approach that works on eliminating negative feelings first. According the practitioners, positive psychology focuses on “build what’s strong” rather than “fix what’s wrong.”
New Treatments For Depression
Another kind of new treatment that is being explored is brain stimulation through a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation or TMS. This non-invasive technique involves electromagnetic pulses that are sent through a coil to targeted areas of the brain. In many people who suffer from depression, there are certain areas of the brain that are underactive and this FDA approved treatment can help to activate those areas. Research is also being done into surgically implanted devices for deep brain stimulation similar to those that are used on Parkinson’s disease patients. These devices could work similarly to the electromagnetic coils and be a long term solution.
As for new therapeutic methods, cognitive behavior therapy is still the stand out form of treatment. Recently, medical professionals have determined that long term cognitive behavior therapy rather than the typical short term could be a better solution to helping to curb depression and some of mental illnesses. The current research has been suggesting that stress is one of the leading causes of depression. If the stress is not adequately dealt with as it happens, it could turn into depression. Long term therapy can help you to learn to adequately deal with stress. The long term therapy could very well be part of the solution for dealing with the stress.
Together, We End The Stigma of Depression
All of these items are indicators that the stigma that surrounds depression and mental health conditions in general could eventually become a thing of the past. People who have depression may not feel as though they need to hide their condition for fear of being judged or ridiculed. Depression sufferers should always ask for help when they need it. Getting treatment is the best defense and the surest way to be able to overcome this potentially debilitating disease.
