What is the best non medicine treatment for severe depression?
My sister has suffered from severe depression since she was seventeen. She has been on many medicines from Zoloft to lithium. Also she has seen many doctores. Despite these treatements, she has seen little to no progress. She is now 34 and still has very low self esteem, thinks she is unactractive, and has slow/choppy speech. This has taken a a great toll on our family and frankly saddens all that are around her for an extended period of time. Is there a surgical option that may work (electo-shock therapy, magnetic resonance, etc), We are willing to try all we can to help her out. Perhaps there is a reputable doctor or clinic with proven depression treating results we can go to?
Posted in depression cognitive
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August 17th, 2009 at 4:15 am
shock treatment is barbaric - and a huge gamble, and there are huge consequences, even if it does work.
The fact that she has choppy speech - and that she was given lithium implies that there is a more complex etiology going on here.
U of M has some research going on with trans-cranial magnetic resonance, perhaps you could contect them?
I wish I had some answers for you. I have had severe depression myself for several decades that started in my early teens. I found that deciding to actually MAKE my life more worthwhile was what I had to do. Pills didnt cut it for me either.
Yeah, somedays I still get weepy for no reason. But things did get a lot better, gradually. First I had to identify problems, then goals, and impedances to those goals, and goal solving tasks.
As an example….I was lonely, I had no freinds…
so why didn’t I have any freinds…..
I was hard to talk to, I was too self absorbed to listen to other people
I only wanted to talk about how life sucked
I was really shy
My body language told people that I wasn’t interested in them
The way I dressed and didn’t wear make up told other people that I wasn’t even interested in myself….
etc.
Then I had to DO something about it.
I had to get up early and do my hair and make up (side benefit, after about three months of this, I felt better about myself)
I had to go out and buy some clothes - which I had always abhored doing, but I knew I had to (benefit, people said I looked nice, which made me feel better)
I started asking the fellow behind the counter at the gas station how his day has been - then said I hoped he had a nice day.)
before I bore the daylights out of you, Y’know, the point is, I got to a point where I was certainly going to kill myself, or I was going to change somethings in my life.
I had to change the "externals" (what I did) before I could change the "internals" (how I felt and reacted to life. One thing that we know, is that while brainchemistry changes mood - the fat that changing behavior can change brain chemistry is one thing that doesnt get talked about much (its called Neurogenesis).
Anyhow - good luck.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:15 am
Ask your family physician to recommend a good psychiatrist.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:15 am
http://www.nativeremedies.com/mindsoothe_for_depression.shtml
August 17th, 2009 at 4:15 am
Try eastern medicine and techniques
Yoga, Acupuncture, Hypnotism
How about join a group like peace corp and make your life useful in the service of mankind
August 17th, 2009 at 4:15 am
First of all, she has to WANT to get the help, no one can make her, not even the people who love her most.
Then, when and if she seeks help, there are ways to get therapy suited to her own condition. Because, there are varying levels of depression, and, she would need that full assessment.
Going to a clinic and having some hypnotherapy to get to the bottom of the depression, then, they can work with her and with you guys as her loved ones, to help supposrt her.
They can give your sister coping mechanisms that she obviously does not have, in the event of a depressive episode, such as, look for the signs of impending depressive mood, and take action to try lessen the severity of this.
Electric shock therapy is so evil, it can do more harm than good. The person having it can also remember alot of what is happening, depending on the way they do it, and that has an affect on their depression too.
Meditation, calm surroundings and, when the person feels up to it, getting back to nature, always helps people who are in the frame of mind to get it.
Good luck, and I am so happy for her she has people who stuck around and who care.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:15 am
There are some things you can do to boost brain chemistry. Some foods, like bananas for example, can increase neurotransmitter activity (seratonin). A good diet, which does not include caffeine or alcohol, is important. Regular exercise also increases neurotransmitter activity. Cognitive behavioral therapy may also be helpful. It helps a person by gradually reframing their thought patterns into more positive thinking. Support groups would also enable her to see that others deal with the same issues.
One treatment will not be as effective as a committment to multiple treatments.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:15 am
See site below for different ways to help your sister naturally for depression.
http://www.phifoundation.org/heal.html
August 17th, 2009 at 4:15 am
Hi,
My heart goes out to you! I have used an energy therapy myself, and with clients, over the past several years, and have seen some pretty remarkable changes for people experiencing depression and helplessness/hopelessness. If you are really keen on helping your sister, you could easily learn the basics and help her to apply them, just as an introduction. If you want to check into it more deeply, you can contact any of the professionals in the directory on the site– many of them are psychologists or psychiatrists and this is their preferred modality. I personally ordered the DVDs and found them so helpful that I eventually became certified as a practitioner. Go here: http://www.emofree.com/AffiliateWiz/aw.aspx?B=1&A=529&Task=Click&TargetURL=emofree.com
and to read more about the effects of SSRIs like Zoloft et al, go here: http://www.drugawareness.org/Ribbon/SSRIMeds.html
All the best!
August 17th, 2009 at 4:15 am
Well there is always God! I too dealt with depression and the one thing that really turned my life around was: 1. Knowing that God and Jesus Loved me and I was valued! 2. Knowing I had people on my side at church, in my social life and in my family that cared about me! and 3. I had to get myself out of the atmosphere that I was in! If all you do is stay in the darkness thinking about how it is never going to get better and think why life is not worth living. But, if you build a personal relationship again with other people and most importantly a relationship with God! Then you will see yourself back with a renewed joy! I would not be telling you this if I had not experienced what your sister is feeling for myself! Know God loves her, and He wants to come into her life and give her a joy and peace that she could never experience in any other way. Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you" John 14:27. She needs to know: >>God created her, and God loves Her!. His only Son, Jesus Christ, loves Her so much that he gave His life on the cross so she could be saved and break free from in perfectness, sin and this depression to become a child of God. She needs to give Jesus all your worries and burdens. When you accept Jesus Christ into your life, something wonderful and supernatural happens. God Himself comes to dwell within you! You become part of His family, and you can know the joy of His presence every day. Go and Pray for your sister but before you do that ask her to tell you what all the voices she hears in her mind are saying and each time she tells you something negative the voices are saying tell her that the voices she hears are lying! Immediately,Renounce the lie in Jesus Name and tell her that God and Jesus Loves her and tell her to tell the voices in her mind to GO IN JESUS NAME! Right now, I encourage you to invite Jesus into your heart. I don’t know what you believe or if you know God or Jesus but I would encourage you to start for your sisters sake! I will be praying for you and your sister because I was too once where your sister is right now and the only way am still alive is because my faith in Jesus saved me and he showed me the better life I could be living if only I put my faith and trust in Him. I encourage you to read a bible right now and then read it to your sister if the drugs she takes make her incoherent just read her certain passages that speck to your heart! Start with the gospel of John! There you will find a story of a man named John the Baptist that paved the way for another man named Jesus that loves you and will bring your sister guidance and hope to her life, if you and your sister only look to him and follow him for your life’s answers instead of yourself! I can’t stress enough how I know what your sister is going though right now and she really needs a change of atmosphere in her life, get her out of the darkness and try to get her to meet new people! A lot of Church’s have small groups, special support groups,bible study and some even have single groups. So, I would encourage you and your sister to do that because it wasn’t till I started putting Jesus first before myself that my life started to get better, I had a whole new image of myself and I started to see how much I was really loved and valued in God’s eyes. You and your sister are so loved! You and your sister have so much to offer! I leave you with a passage from the bible that started to pull me out of the darkness and into the light: Tell this one to your sister for starters: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make all your paths straight. Prov. 3:5-6. Go to Jesus in prayer and then go to your sister and pray for her this way! Ask Jesus to lead your heart so you may trust him that everything will be all right and the next step you take will be right in line with what he wants for you in life, and what life is suppose to be like in serving him! In Jesus Name Amen
August 17th, 2009 at 4:15 am
Hi I am not saying I am a doctor But i have a derpression and I deal with it daily. Please tell your sister to email me so I can talk with her. I started with mine at age 30 and I am not 49. I have some what Idea she is dealing with Please feel free to have her to contact me. At this address sassy3557@myway.com. Please make sure you have done all you can before going to have that shock stuff done. They thought about doing that to me. No way.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:15 am
if you watch scanners this will put u off shock therapy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX_G8Ruge7g