6 Depression Myths That Keep You From Growing
Working Hard Will Help You Beat Depression
When it comes to clinical depression, this is a myth. Depression as a mental illness isn’t so simple as feeling a little blue or under the weather.
There are so many aspects of your life that depression affects. Your energy level is one of them. Most people tend to notice that it takes more energy to do simple tasks than it does when you are feeling well.
Just dealing with everything that depression entails is draining on your levels of energy alone. If you are overworking yourself you end up draining yourself. Maybe not right away, but over time you will end up doing yourself more damage and could put yourself in a worse-off position.
This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t work, just pace yourself, take breaks if you are feeling overwhelmed, and allow yourself to keep control.
Depression Isn’t A Real Mental Illness
While your plain, average feelings aren’t a mental illness, many people feel depressed throughout their lives, clinical depression is a mental illness and a serious one at that.
Not only do the symptoms of depression last much longer than a general episode of depression, but affect parts of the brain itself.
Research has actually shown that depression can shrink certain areas of the brain. These areas are:
Some other physical symptoms of the brain caused by depression include inflammation of the brain, there can be restriction of oxygen into the body and brain, because of the damage depression can cause to the areas mentioned above. A person can also experience connection changes in the brain’s pathways.
You’re Not Depressed, You’re Just Pitying Yourself
Depression is a mental illness which is a medical illness that has physical changes to the brain. These physical changes can affect different areas of your life as well as making you incapable of certain activities.
Your brain controls everything in your body. When your brain isn’t releasing the right chemicals and firing off the wrong chemicals your brain and body react and that is not something you have any control over.
You can’t simply just tell your depression to go away or make yourself snap out of it. Clinical depression is something that needs to be treated with medication, diet, therapy, or coping skills.
If You Have Clinical Depression You Will Never Get Better and Will Be On Medications All Your Life
This is not always true. While some people will need to be on medication all their life, people can get better with those medications.
Medications are not always required to deal with depression, and sometimes only necessary for a temporary period of time. With doctor supervision, coping skills and sometimes therapy, a person can come off medication and use their learned coping skills to deal with their depression.
There is nothing wrong with seeking help for your issues with depression. Just because you decide to seek help doesn’t mean that you will be put on medications either.
Depending on how severe your depression currently is and how you are able to cope with it, your doctor may advise different strategies or therapy.
Talking About Things Won’t Make Any Difference and Might Make Things Worse
Although society has come a long way with mental health problems and awareness, many people still feel that they have to keep quiet about what’s going on. This is simply not true and can keep you from getting better and in some cases cause things to be worse.
Through psychotherapy, also known as talk therapy, a person can get help working through different thought patterns, help you to discover feelings that you may not recognize, and help you with relationships if that is needed as well.
There are different forms of psychotherapy and different strategies that can be used. Talk to your doctor and therapists to find out what type of talk therapy will be best for you and your current situation.
Depression Is Too Hard To Treat So There’s No Point In Trying
While there is a low percentage of people who are considered treatment-resistant, the majority of those who have clinical depression are treatable and do become symptom-free.
That being said not everyone gets relief from depression from the first medication that they are given. Sometimes it can take a few different tries to find the right medication.
If you have coverage for a therapist, the best results for treating depression usually consist of a combination of both talk therapy and medication. However, depression can be treated with only one or the other.
Medication Needs Time For Them To Work (Fact)
When your doctor starts you on the medication you can’t expect it to work right away. The medication will take time to get into your system. While some people may notice some kind of a change in a couple of weeks, you will most likely need to give it at least a month to start seeing some changes.
Your doctor may also need to make adjustments to the dosage of the medication he or she has prescribed you. It is important to see your doctor again after a few weeks of starting a new medication or dosage change to re-evaluate your condition and make appropriate dosage changes.
Your doctor won’t be able to start you on the max dose of a medication as it would be dangerous to you. Some people can’t handle as high a dose of a medication as others.