Learn As Much As You Can About Mental Health
Part of your process of working to help a friend with depression or anxiety should involve a commitment to learning about their struggles. So, if youve never had these types of problems before, read all about them. Don’t just research the symptoms covered above, but also natural remedies for anxiety, common anxiety triggers, medical treatments, therapeutic approaches, and so on.
Once you deepen your understanding in this way, youll be much more likely to know what your loved one needs and to be able to offer it to them.
Learning about mental health can also stop you from making lots of mistaken assumptions that can inadvertently cause harm.
For example, you might just assume that if you see your friend looking happy and vibrant, this means their depression is in the past. However, if youve researched depression, youll know that one good day doesnt indicate a cure, and assuming it does can set the person back.
Can Depression Be Prevented
Many people wonder if depression can be prevented and how they may be able to lower their risk of depression. Although most cases of depression cannot be prevented, healthy lifestyle changes can have long-term benefits to your mental health.
Here are a few steps you can take:
- Be physically active and eat a healthy, balanced diet. This may help avoid illnesses that can bring on disability or depression. Some diets including the low-sodium DASH diet have been shown to reduce risk of depression.
How Is Depression Syndrome Treated
Depression can be serious, but its also treatable. Treatment for depression includes:
- Self-help: Regular exercise, getting enough sleep, and spending time with people you care about can improve depression symptoms.
- Counseling: Counseling or psychotherapy is talking with a mental health professional. Your counselor helps you address your problems and develop coping skills. Sometimes brief therapy is all you need. Other people continue therapy longer.
- Alternative medicine: People with mild depression or ongoing symptoms can improve their well-being with complementary therapy. Therapy may include massage, acupuncture, hypnosis and biofeedback.
- Medication: Prescription medicine called antidepressants can help change brain chemistry that causes depression. Antidepressants can take a few weeks to have an effect. Some antidepressants have side effects, which often improve with time. If they dont, talk to your provider. A different medications may work better for you.
- Brain stimulation therapy: Brain stimulation therapy can help people who have severe depression or depression with psychosis. Types of brain stimulation therapy include electroconvulsive therapy , transcranial magnetic stimulation and vagus nerve stimulation .
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An Inability To Concentrate
We all have moments where we forget our best friends name or put our car keys in the fridge. We may have days where we experience brain fog or are scatterbrained. However, depression involves a lack of concentration and a difficulty making decisions that affect work performance and other responsibilities. You might make more mistakes at work or start calling in sick.
Online Treatment Changing Mental Health Treatment
Mental health treatment has changed a great deal in the last few years. Online therapy is a prominent as well as effective means to deal with mental illnesses.
The online therapy transformation has been happening over the last decade, with a boost of more than 400% in the number of individuals utilizing on-line treatment in the UK alone. It is now available across all platforms and can be accessed from anywhere at any moment.
Psychological health and wellness treatment is not a new concept. Still, it has ended up being increasingly popular with individuals looking for help for mental diseases like clinical depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Additionally, the rise of online therapy has actually had a considerable effect on exactly how psychological health therapy is done today. Steps To Help With Depression
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Get A Good Nights Sleep
While prioritizing sleep isnt always easy, Guttentag says its crucial for well-being.
If anxiety or depression is affecting your sleep, consider limiting your caffeine, alcohol and nicotine intake, creating a bedtime routine, and finding a relaxing activity like reading, journaling, or listening to quiet music to slow your brain down before bed, she said.
Other Causes Of Depression
There are a number of things that can lead to developing depression.
- Stressful events big changes in your life, like bereavement, the end of a relationship or the loss of a job, can be difficult to deal with. When these things happen, it’s important to keep seeing friends and family instead of trying to deal with problems alone this increases your risk of developing depression.
- Giving birth pregnancy and birth can make some people vulnerable to depression. Postnatal depression can happen as the result of physical changes, hormonal changes, and the responsibility of taking care of a new baby.
- Loneliness your risk of depression gets higher if you aren’t in contact or spending time with family and friends.
- Personality some personality traits can put you at a higher risk of developing depression. These include low-self esteem or a habit of criticising yourself too much. These personality traits can come from your genes, which you get from your parents, or they can be as a result of experiences in your early life.
- Family history it’s more likely for someone to develop depression if a family member, like a sibling or parent, has experienced it before.
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How Can I Know That I Have An Anxiety Disorder
If you have anxiety that persistently affects you every day, you may have a disorder that would benefit from professional help. Feeling anxious every now and then is normal, but episodes of intense anxiety and fear about everyday situations may signal a disorder.
If you find your anxiety is out of proportion to the situation at hand, and that you change your life to avoid anxiety-provoking instances, youd benefit from professional help. And know that if you experience anxiety, youre not alone. More than 18% of the adult population has some form of anxiety disorder, making it the most common mental health disorder.
Anxiety doesnt just show up in one singular way. You can have a generalized anxiety disorder, anxiety surrounding social situations, or specific phobias.
You can suspect some form of an anxiety disorder if you experience:
- Feelings of nervousness or tension
- A sense of impending doom or danger
- Panic attacks that may involve elevated heart rate, nausea, and rapid breathing
- Difficulty concentrating due to concerns about your present worry
- Disrupted sleep
You may notice that you avoid situations that cause you anxiety, so your world becomes smaller.
Coping With Depression Tip : Reach Out And Stay Connected
Getting support plays an essential role in overcoming depression. On your own, it can be difficult to maintain a healthy perspective and sustain the effort required to beat depression. At the same time, the very nature of depression makes it difficult to reach out for help. When youre depressed, the tendency is to withdraw and isolate so that connecting to even close family members and friends can be tough.
You may feel too exhausted to talk, ashamed at your situation, or guilty for neglecting certain relationships. But this is just the depression talking. Staying connected to other people and taking part in social activities will make a world of difference in your mood and outlook. Reaching out is not a sign of weakness and it wont mean youre a burden to others. Your loved ones care about you and want to help. And if you dont feel that you have anyone to turn to, its never too late to build new friendships and improve your support network.
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Unsure How To Help A Friend With Depression Or Anxiety Here Are Five Ways
When people find out that I am a clinical psychologist, one of the most common responses I get is, How do I help someone in my life struggling with mental health issues? There is a reason this response occurs with such frequency. In 2017, 7.1 percent of all adults in the United States had one or more major depressive episodes, and 19.1 percent met diagnostic criteria for at least one anxiety disorder. Now consider that these numbers dont include any of the following:
These facts demonstrate that the percentage of individuals struggling with significant mental health problems at any given time is staggering. As such, virtually all people are closely acquainted with at least one person who is currently struggling with a mental health problem.
The impact of having a loved one struggling with depression or anxiety can be profound and, in fact, is often itself a reason that many people seek therapy. Unfortunately, there is no single behavior that is effective at helping all people who are struggling with depression and anxiety.
The good news is, there are some approaches that tend to work better than others. I have outlined these below:
1. Educate yourself in order to dispel harmful myths about mental illness.
2. Try some perspective taking.
Talking With Friends And Family About Suicide
Its important to watch for signs and symptoms of depression or suicide. Dont shy away from asking if a family member or friend is feeling depressed or suicidal. It may be an uncomfortable conversation, but it is important. Asking if someone is having thoughts of suicide will not make them more likely to act on those thoughts. Your questions may help the person open up about how theyve been feeling and encourage them to seek treatment.
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Counselling Or Talk Therapy
The primary treatment for depression or anxiety is psychological counseling, also called talk therapy or psychotherapy. Several types of talk therapy have been shown to be safe and effective for the treatment of depression.
- Cognitive behaviour therapy can help us see how our thoughts and actions are connected to our feelings. CBT teaches us how to replace negative, depressive thoughts and behaviours with more positive, constructive thoughts and actions.
- Interpersonal psychotherapy focuses on improving relationships by helping us to resolve conflicts that are contributing to the depression.
- Solution-focused therapy focuses on personal strengths and helps us to create a positive future for ourself by finding solutions to our stresses and problems.
How To Find The Right Treatment
Sticking to your treatment plan is one of the most important things you can do. Its easy to get discouraged in the first few weeks of treatment, and you may feel like you dont want to continue. All types of treatment can take a few months before you notice a difference.
It can also feel like youre doing much better, causing you to stop treatment altogether. Never stop treatment without consulting your doctor first.
You should feel comfortable talking to your therapist. If you dont, try switching to a new one. You may have to meet with several therapists before you find the one thats right for you.
You should also talk to your therapist about your feelings toward your therapy sessions and your overall treatment plan. This allows them to work with you and make changes if your treatment plan isnt working.
Finding the right treatment is often a trial-and-error process. If one doesnt work, its good to move on. If 2 or more months have gone by and youve stuck to a treatment but dont feel any relief from the depression, its likely not working for you. You should experience relief from depression within 3 months of starting a medication.
Talk to your doctor immediately if your:
- depression doesnt improve after several month of treatment
- symptoms have improved, but you still dont feel like yourself
- symptoms get worse
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Exactly How To Locate The Right Therapist For You
The very first step in locating the ideal therapist is to know what type of treatment you want. This can be done by reviewing up on different treatments and also seeing which one reverberates with you the most.
The following action is to discover a specialist that has experience in that kind of treatment. It is essential to find someone who has experience due to the fact that they will certainly supply the most effective guidance for your demands.
Its essential to make sure that your therapist is accredited and also insured. You dont wish to put yourself in jeopardy by entering into therapy with somebody who does not have these qualifications due to the fact that they may not be qualified enough for your demands or could not. Things To Help With Anxiety And Depression
Prepared to take the next action in your therapy trip? Calmerry is a new e-counseling system thats reinventing treatment by making treatment affordable and easily accessible, attaching customers with vetted specialists to discover the appropriate fit. In addition, Calmerry offers evidence-based techniques devoted to supplying therapy excellence and expertise.
You should have to be happy, however youre battling. You require help. You require somebody to recognize. Calmerry is the initial e-counseling platform to supply inexpensive treatment through phone, video conversation, or messaging. Calmerry took care of all the bureaucracy, so you dont have to worry about insurance policy or compromised info.
Actions For This Page
- Anxiety and depression in men are common, and effective, evidence-based treatments are available.
- Anxiety and depression are mental health conditions, not weaknesses.
- Taking action may seem difficult but help and support is readily available.
- Its important to seek support for anxiety and depression early the sooner the better.
- With the right treatment, most people recover from anxiety and depression.
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How To Cope With Anxiety And Depression
Anxiety and depression often go hand in hand. Heres what you need to know if they strike simultaneously.
Do you sometimes worry so much that it interferes with your everyday activities? Or feel so blue that it completely clouds your outlook? Do you often experience these or similar feelings together? Youre not the only one.
According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America , anxiety disorders which include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and social anxiety disorder are the most common mental health problem among U.S. adults, affecting 18.1 percent of the population each year. And mood disorders which include major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and seasonal affective disorder are the leading cause of disability.
Moreover, the incidence of developing depression in addition to an anxiety disorder or vice versa is high. Many people with major depression also suffer from severe and persistent anxiety, notes Sally R. Connolly, LCSW, in Louisville, Kentucky. And some experts estimate that 60 percent of people with anxiety will also have symptoms of depression, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness .
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What If My Symptoms Dont Improve
If youre not responding to treatment, you may live with treatment resistant depression. This is when your symptoms have not improved after at least 2 standard treatments. This can also be known as treatment-refractory depression.
There is currently no official criteria used to diagnose treatment resistant depression.
What treatment is available for treatment-resistant depression?There are treatment options for treatment resistant depression. Even if antidepressants have not worked already for you, your doctor may suggest a different antidepressant from a different class.
The new antidepressant you are offered will depend on the first antidepressant you were given.
Sometimes your doctor can prescribe a second type of medication to go with your antidepressant. This can sometimes help the antidepressant work better than it does by itself.
Where antidepressants have not worked, your doctor may suggest talking therapies, ECT or brain stimulation treatments. See the previous section for more information on these.
What is an implanted vagus nerve stimulator, and how is it used in treatment resistant depression?If you live with treatment resistant depression, and youve not responded to other treatments, you may be able ask for an implanted vagus nerve stimulator.
Please speak to your doctor if youre interested in this treatment and for more information. You may be able to get this treatment funded through an Individual Funding Request.
- NHS – Your Rights by clicking here.
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Can Anxiety And Depression Be Treated Together
Yes. No one has to suffer from anxiety disorder or depression, and certainly not both. People with anxiety disorder should speak with a psychiatrist, therapist, or other healthcare professional about their symptoms and start treatment as soon as possible. If you suspect you have both anxiety and depression, Connolly recommends getting a thorough evaluation from a psychiatrist as a first step. “It’s really crucial for people with both to have a good assessment to rule out bipolar disorder,” she says.
Important: If you or someone you know needs help coping with anxiety or depression, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK . The Crisis Text Line also provides free, 24/7, confidential support via text message to people in crisis when they text to 741741.