Many people with depression find it almost impossible to function normally when depression strikes. It is an all-consuming, negative, state of mind.

Depression is often fed by negative thoughts, which results in a downward spiral in that the more negative thoughts you have, the more depressed you feel, and the more depressed you feel the more negative thoughts you generate.

The simple truth is that for virtually all types of illness we tend to think that some form of medication is the answer. The problem with medication for depression in my experience is that it is rather like taking pain relief for severe toothache. If the toothache is caused, as it was in my case, by a tooth impacting on another tooth, medication helps to take the pain away but one can still feel the impacting tooth moving. In other words, medication for depression gives you a “chemical” lift, but in the back of one’s mind one can still feel the depression.

Because we often expect medication to cure it is ourselves, and because if we suffer from depression we often feel negative in any case, it makes it very easy to rubbish anything that suggests one’s depression can be treated with therapy.

However, the reality is far from the case and as I have discovered the only way to beat depression is with the use of one’s mind. Here are some common excuses often used to justify not having therapy.

1. As one goes through life and meets different people, one often finds that people can be broadly divided into two groups, open-minded people and close minded people. I’m not suggesting this is better to belong to one group or the other, very often when it comes to therapy is important one has an open mind. There is a mountain of research that shows therapy is very successful in helping people be depression, but for some people the term “therapy” should be reserved for the weak minded. This is a great shame, as such people, like anyone else, would surely benefit from therapy.

2. Another barrier for some people is the idea that therapy cannot help them. This is similar to a child saying they don’t like a certain type of food when they haven’t in fact tried it. This may sound a little harsh, (when I suffered from depression I sometimes needed some straight talking), but sometimes it can be easy to avoid doing something, particularly when one is depressed, due to one’s negative thoughts. Certainly conquering depression may involve the use of multiple sources, but therapy should definitely be one of the tools in one’s arsenal.

3. Other people avoid therapy because they feel it’s going to be a long and complicated journey. Now this may be true for long-term depression, but generally speaking therapy involves a number of fairly simple exercises which one can practice on one’s own quite easily. Even if therapy takes longer than expected, the fact that you are doing something about it, I found helps. Doing nothing will simply keep you in your depressed state and surely this is not what you want?

I cured my depression through a combination of therapy and self-help alone. I’m not suggesting everybody will share the same success, but I do know that doing nothing is not an option if one wants to beat depression.

I have also found that hiking helps beat depression. In my case I love walking and camping. Camping out is very relaxing and restores my state of mind. I always carry Swiss Gear tentswhich are very well made. Visit www.tentsforcampingreview.com.

Tags : depression, depression treatment, Health, Therapy
Categories : Health