Antidepressant medications are prescribed very often today, which isn’t a surprise as over 300 million people worldwide suffer from depression. However, for all their efficiency, these drugs aren’t good for your health in the long term (Harvard Health Publishing). Therefore, it’s best to avoid them if possible, especially as today there are safer treatments available.
6 Best Depression Treatments to Try Today
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Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a type of therapy developed in the 1980s. Its original purpose was the treatment of borderline personality disorder. However, the method has proven to be effective for treating a variety of disorders, including depression, PTSD, and alcoholism.
This therapy method focuses on finding and understanding ‘triggers’ that cause a specific kind of behavior and learning how to cope with them. DBT treatments include a crash course on healthy coping mechanisms. The treatment also includes training in stress tolerance and mindfulness.
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Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Not all treatments for mood disorders are based on psychotherapy. One of the best examples is the TMS therapy for depression. This type of treatment is non-invasive and safe. It uses electromagnetic impulses directed at different areas of your brain. This stimulation produces different effects that help treat depression on different levels.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a method of depression treatment often prescribed to those who are resistant to drugs and for whom therapy doesn’t produce good results. Note that this treatment requires multiple sessions to be effective. However, the results should start showing after a few sessions, making the symptoms of clinical depression milder.
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Yoga
Yoga might not be therapy in a traditional sense, but multiple studies prove that it’s rather effective for treating depression. As yoga itself is extremely versatile, everyone can find a type of this exercise that works for them personally.
Note that to achieve maximum effect, you need to not only use the ‘physical’ part of yoga. You also should use meditation and breathing exercises. Meditating and practicing daily is most efficient for a yoga intervention during depression treatment. This kind of therapy is completely safe, so everyone can do it. However, remember to find an experienced and certified yoga trainer as doing some poses incorrectly may result in an injury.
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Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy can provide assistance with depression treatment, especially those, who suffer chronic pain (The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry).This type of treatment doesn’t produce immediate results and it’s mostly used to complement a more complex treatment plan.
This form of therapy relies on meditation and ‘programming’ your brain to positive responses. It also helps tea with anxiety and panic attacks.
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Transcendental meditation
Transcendental meditation is a type of meditation that will help you focus, calm, and find some inner equilibrium in the face of great stress. You should learn it under the guidance of an experienced teacher as TM can be rather challenging.
Today, this meditation is the most popular kind in the world. Its principles are extremely helpful and can be applied in many ways in everyday life. However, in some places, it’s prohibited on religious grounds.
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Herbal Remedies
Herbal remedies can augment a variety of depression treatment plans. This type of therapy is extremely versatile as there are many herbs that can help you in different ways. For example, turmeric curcumin helps deal with suicidal thoughts and psychotic episodes, and saffron has an effect similar to Prozac, but without its side effects.
Bear in mind that while each type of depression treatment available today is effective in some way, depression is a very complex disorder. This means that it requires a combination of methods to treat effectively. Be advised that the final decision about any therapy should lie with your doctor.