Do People Go Back To Normal After Depression

Like the weather, our mental health can go through periods of bright bursts and dark dips. It is important to seek help when you are struggling.

With proper treatment, people with mental illnesses can manage their symptoms, overcome challenges and lead fulfilling lives. Treatment often includes psychotherapy and medication.

Medications

Medications can help control many symptoms of mental illnesses, including anxiety and depression. The medicines balance neurotransmitters in the brain to reduce unwanted mental health symptoms. They can also improve the effectiveness of psychotherapy (a type of counseling).

Psychiatric medications are available in pill form, liquid or injection. They can be prescribed by psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners and clinical psychologists. They are often recommended for conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, depressive disorders and schizophrenia.

Medication can take weeks or even months before it starts to work. It may be necessary to try more than one drug before finding the right treatment for you. Some people get relief from their symptoms immediately, while others feel better after a few days or weeks.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy (also called talk therapy or counseling) lets you discuss your thoughts, feelings and behaviors with a trained therapist in a safe, confidential environment. It can help you cope with a mental health condition, like depression or anxiety, or cope with life's challenges, such as relationship problems or job stress.

Different types of psychotherapy include interpersonal therapy, dialectical behavior therapy and psychodynamic therapy. Interpersonal therapy focuses on relationships and helps people better understand their emotions, while dialectical behavior therapy uses new skills to more effectively regulate moods and is used to treat PTSD, borderline personality disorder and eating disorders. Psychodynamic therapy is based on the idea that a person's beliefs, thoughts and emotions are influenced by childhood experiences or problematic, repetitive patterns of behavior that are outside their awareness.

Some psychiatrists and other medical doctors with special training in psychiatry offer psychotherapy, as do licensed clinical social workers and nurses who specialize in mental health care. You can find a qualified therapist by asking for referrals from family and friends, using the internet or contacting your insurance company.

Brain-stimulation treatments

For people with severe depression that doesn’t respond to standard treatments, a psychiatrist may suggest brain-stimulation therapies. These use electricity, magnets or implants to stimulate specific areas of the brain.

One approach is repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, or rTMS. Specialists place a treatment coil on the head and transform an electrical current into a magnetic field that pulses rapidly and targets a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex. This helps to balance out erratic activity and improve mood.

Another option is deep brain stimulation, or DBS. This elective surgical procedure is already used to treat movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease, and it’s being studied for psychiatric conditions such as severe depression that doesn’t respond to medicine and therapy. During a DBS session, the patient is anesthetized and given muscle relaxants; electrodes are placed on the scalp at precise locations. Small electric currents then trigger a controlled seizure within the brain. The therapy is remarkably effective and relatively free of cognitive side effects.

Psychiatric hospitalization

People who are in mental distress or a danger to themselves or others may be involuntarily admitted for psychiatric care. They may be brought in to a hospital by a loved one or by law enforcement officers.

Many psychiatric hospitals have closed wards for patients with severe or threatening episodes. These are called crisis stabilization units. They can also be open psychiatric hospitals for people with less serious symptoms.

Psychiatrists are responsible for the treatment plans for most people on a psychiatric ward. They usually meet with the patient each day and discuss the progress they are making. Resident physicians and medical students are part of the team that provides care in psychiatric hospitals. Unlike in the past, most people don’t stay long in a psychiatric hospital. This is because medical research has produced highly effective treatments for many mental health conditions. Once a person is stable in psychiatric care, they may move to less intensive settings like partial hospitalization.