What is a natural alternative to treating depression? Any natural way to treat depression?

Question

I have social anxiety with depression, but regular medication makes me feel like a robot, meaning no feelings whatsoever. I am depressed and as time goes on, I pull away from people and life all together. I barley go outside anymore. My doctor says that there isn't anything wrong with me, it's just in my head. Well no kidding, I knew that!

Answer 1

let me try to explain correctly. there mainly 2 types of depression with varying degrees of severity. the first is situational depression (caused by a specific trauma) and clinical depression (caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain). the difference between the 2 is those who suffer from situational depression can be treated with short term use of medications and therapy. on the other hand more times than not those suffer from clinical depression will need not only intense therapy ,but will also need to take medication always, in order to maintain stability.
in many cases when a depressed person is in recovery and is stable they will decide to go off their meds, and most will relapse. you need to be honest, and accept your condition, and keep taking your meds if you need them to remain well.

Answer 2

You are not alone, do not feel bad. It doesn't matter if the reason of being depressed lays on your head or on the personal situation you are living in. Just think that nothing lasts forever. Not even depression.
Be careful while mixing over the counter and herbs with your current medication. Sometimes it may trigger very uncomfortable symptoms.
If you cannot trust entirely on your doctor, then change. It is very important that you keep little firm support from anybody every day, no matter that lasts only a short period of your life. One day you will find that life is not so bad as you can see it now, and that will be your starting point to get healed and be a happy person again.
Sincerely, Froggy

Answer 3

First off, it might be in your head, but that's no reason to ignore it! Change doctors or get a second opinion. I know what you mean about the medicine making you feel like a robot. Part of that is probably a couple things: 1) it's been a long time since you've actually felt good so when the medicine kicks in it feels like you're a stranger 2) you haven't found the right medicine or combination of medicines.
As for natural remedies, getting out in natural sunlight and exercising regularly may help.

Answer 4

I have always been told with my seasonal depression to get active. I know that when I go out side even if I am not doing anything I feel better just because I soak up some sun. Though having social anxieties can make getting out and doing something difficult. Maybe switching meds will help. My mom found the right one after four other medications. If you have tried other meds and it hasn't helped try talking to a counselor. Maybe there is some other reason for your anxiety.

Answer 5

No...not hanging around funny people. I have depression and chose not to be on medications. I know a lot about natural ways of dealing with problems, although I'm not afraid to take modern medicine if needed. Studies have proven that excercize is by far the best natural anti-depression. It produces the same chemical reaction in our brains that anti-depressants do. Other things are eating a well balanced diet, and avoiding alcohol. Hope that helps. And excersize is a long term way of dealing with it. Any physician can confirm that.

Answer 6

You have to get out and stay busy. Find things that you enjoy to involve yourself in. However, when you are already depressed it is so hard to make yourself get out. You even get to a point you have to make yourself smile and laugh, I know, I have been there.

I wish I could say there are natural ways to do it. I never found it. I finally had to go back on medicines, but only until I got better. It was not a forever thing. Maybe you could do this. There are SO many medicines to choose from I am sure your Dr can change yours so you don't feel robotic. Use them only for a few months until you see if this is a temporary thing. Sometimes, just using them to get your hormones back in sync will be enough.

Good luck with whatever attempts you chose to make. I hope they work for you because depression is miserable and will make your life a living hell on earth.

Answer 7

Medications alone are usually not enough in treating depression. It only accounts for 50% of the result. So psychotherapy must be added. Psychotherapy`s different types (cognitive, interpersonal, behavioral etc) helps you to get rid of the maladaptive behaviors and believes that causes you to develop depression. You should have more positive attitude towards life and towards yourself. You should be less hard to yourself. Less critical.
Long acting antidepressants which are taken once a week also can help you feel better than the daily medications.
Biofeedback (Yoga) and exercises are effective in relieving stresses. Having close relations and having a goal in your life helps too. Best wishes.

Answer 8

Well a lot of ways . Friends, Social Activities, Community , Family they all play a great role against depression BUT if in limits. Why?? actually if u like to talk to others on any matters then it will shift ur attention from the strom of thinking in ur mind to some usefull direction and gradually ..... A Recovery. Remember its a bit slow process but has a long term benefits with no side effects. So how i fight with depression whenever i got upset i call my friend and discuss any thing it makes me feel better . Try it ur self i hope it will help

Answer 9

You should go to another doctor. I have been fighting with bipolar disorder/depression and I have tried to handle it myself but it don't work. Taking medication is not a big deal. My medication helps me to stay "level mooded". That way when I get upset I'll really be upset and not upset/happy. I can't really explain it. I've been off of my meds for about a year and I'm starting to relapse lately. My moods have been off the chain and the people that I love have been negatively affected by the change. So here I am again making the decision to take my meds again. I should not have never stopped.

Answer 10

As far as the social phobia, the book Dying of Embarrassment really helped--it's all about exposure therapy. Basically, you do activities to desensitize yourself to your phobia by immersing yourself in more and more stressful situations. Eventually, you learn that the phobia isn't working for you or you learn ways to cope with it to make your life easier.

But as far as doing it without meds--I couldn't have done it. Hell no, no way could I have done the exposure therapy without meds. I was so freaked out that I could barely talk, couldn't talk in class, heart palpitations, sweating, trembling, nausea, all those horrible anxiety symptoms. If you can do the therapy without it, then more power to you but I needed to get my physical symptoms under control to deal with the mental aspects of the phobia. You probably need a much more sympathetic doctor. Personally, I've never had a psychiatrist whom I liked even a little bit, though I usually like my therapists a lot. I've worked with a couple of excellent psychologists (like my guy now) and maybe therapy would help, but I think you may need to try different meds. I've never had any success with natural remedies and I actually got really sick from taking an herbal supplement that some quack chiropractor prescribed. But the doctors hand out the scrips, and you need scrips to get meds. So I put up with psychiatrists occasionally. Therapists don't prescribe meds, and you might get some help from them. But exhaust your choices of meds first--I've tried depression with and without meds and I can't function without meds. Don't deprive yourself of a useful tool until you've tried all the meds out there and none of them work. I had to try a number of them before I found some OK ones. Meds and therapy can go really well together. But therapy on its own can still help some, so try it by itself if the meds aren't helping. Good luck and do what you can to stay motivated--I think it's a good sign that you're asking for help here, but do it in real life, too.