Every time I do an internet search on depression and anxiety, I am amazed at the amount of sites that state that they have the best depression and anxiety cures. They consist of herbal remedies, prescription medications, yoga, spa, relaxation, lobotomies, the power of positive thinking, meditation, hydrotherapy, hypnotherapy, electric shock therapy, behavioral therapy, no therapy, instant cures, prayer, sweat lodge, leeches… I am sure you get the idea.
I have a hard enough time picking a restaurant when I have more than two to choose from, there is no way I could see all those sites and then decide on what depression treatment would work best for me. I would either be so overwhelmed by the choices and not be able to choose anything or I would close my eyes and point my finger and whatever ever my finger pointed to is what I would try for my depression and anxiety.
I do not know how other people wade through all of that and pick what they think would work for them. Most people I know who are dealing with severe depression are incapable of making decisions when there are that many items to choose from.
Most of those sites claim to have the “best” cure for depression and anxiety. Or they say they have the “only” true cure for depression and anxiety. How can they know that theirs is the “best” cure or the “only” cure? People are so different from each other and there is more than one cause for depression. Even someone who takes a more traditional, medical approach for the treatment of their depression often end up having to try more than one medication before the right combination is found for them.
After I tried to kill myself, I was not really given any choice about where I was going to get treatment from. At the time we had no medical insurance, which meant that there was no way I could afford to go to a private psychiatrist. The hospital told me and my family that I should go to a local mental health, out patient facility. It is government funded, and the patients are charged for the services there based on their income.
The only choice I really had at the time was whether I was going to get help or not. If I did not get help, I believe my family would have had me committed into a state run mental health facility. I chose the out patient facility. I did not even have to worry about how I was going to get there. My husband asked my mother to take me.
I was pretty angry at the time, because I felt like they were treating me like a child. However, now I see the wisdom in what they did. They knew that I was not in a place where I could make any decisions about my own well being, so they made things very easy for me.
After I started treatment there it took about 8 different medications and a trip to a state run mental health facility before the proper combination of medicine could be figured out for me. I also see the counselor once a week. So when I read the sites that claim to have the “best” or “only” cures, I am very skeptical. I am not discounting their product and saying it has absolutely no value in the treatment of depression. What I am saying though is that, in my opinion, there is no singular thing that works on depression. I believe that most people need to employ the use of more than one type of depression treatment/medication, and these sites advertising they way they do, can be very misleading to the newly diagnosed.
I rarely recommend, or advise anyone about depression and anxiety treatments, but today I feel compelled to. Choose carefully when deciding what treatment you think will work best for you. Do not get discouraged if you have to use more than one type of treatment for your depression. Finally, if you are like most people with severe depression and have a hard time choosing where to start, get someone you trust to help you make that decision. There is no shame in asking for help.
