Is the key to managing or defeating depression mental therapy and will power or psychological drugs?

Question

I feel that depending on drugs is a double-edged sword for some people. While it improves and maintains the depression, it makes the individual develop a depency on the drug; remove the drug from the individual and their faced with not only their depression again, but now a drug addiction.
Yet, I feel that therapy is not as easy as popping pills, but it teaches the individual how to deal with their lives only by depending on one thing: themselves, and not medication.

Which do you feel is more effective for managing or curing depression: therapy or medication? Why?

I was reading the answers hoping to not find a defensive one, but I did.

Please keep in mind that my intent is to offend no one. I ask this out of pure curiosity. I do have my opinion but am 110% to be enlightened to believe otherwise. My intent is not judge those diagnosed and treated for depression.

Your opinions and experiences are much appreciated.

Answer 1

I feel an equal amount of both is a good solution.

Therapy is a wonderful tool for uncovering emotions and understanding the reasons for them. However, it is not always sufficient to curb the depression for the time being, which is mostly why a drug is prescribed. Understandably, the drug can produce side effects, one of which is dependence. However, if you start with a low dosage and continue therapy, I don't see why that can't be an effective tool. Also, with a low dosage comes a lower dependency.

As a psychiatrist, it is their job to see whether their patient is becoming dependant upon the drug or not. True, some see dollar bills instead of a human being, but not all do this.

To me, I believe in both approaches. I've seen them both work harmoniously and to a positive outcome.

Answer 2

I am not on any medication, but my husband is on anti-depression/anxiety medication. He always felt that these anti-depressants drugs were a crutch. A pill to help people feel better just knowing they were on something. But when it got to the point where he wouldn't get out of bed and started acting out in anger toward me and my children he decided to go a doctor.

*Why all of this took place*

He'd always been 'lazy' even as a child. Lazy, meaning not wanting to get up and do anything. This laziness started to take its toll on our family. He wouldn't get up and look for a job. Instead he'd sleep until after noon, then stay on the computer all day. I finally decided to take charge. I tore the DSL cord out of the back of his computer and made him talk to me. We decided it was time to talk to a doctor. The doctor ran some tests & diagnosed him with anxiety/depression. He even went to see a therapist for a few months. We even had a family therapy session so the kids and myself could take part.

Now, he is on the anti-depression/anxiety medication and doing a lot better. He is even working again and feels proud to work. So, I believe that the medications will and do help those that actually need them.

They are able to tell who needs these medications just by doing simple tests. These tests check for Serotonin levels. Serotonin is a chemical in the Central Nervous System. An imbalance of this chemical can cause depression, anxiety, mood swings, bi-polar disorder, etc...

As for your question: "Which do you feel is more effective for managing or curing depression: therapy or medication?"

I think both are sometimes needed. Because in order for you to come to terms what is wrong with you, I believe you need to talk to someone that will listen. Someone that doesn't know you or what you have been through so you get a new prospective. And medication helps as well for those that do have a problem and can't control it on their own.

(A lot of people go through things that they have problems dealing with themselves. I lost my mother to cancer and then 7 months later, my husband and I lost our 7 week old baby to SIDS. This is when all our problems started happening. I believe the medications out there are there to help. Why not use them?)

Answer 3

no, as harsh as it may seem of me not accepting anything what u have said, i say no. The pacient has to be put face to face with the reason/person/object that made him go to the shrink in the first time, there's no smooth/lenghty/middle way of doing this IF we want that person cured/treated/fixed in the long term. The drugs remake and repair and do some tuneup of the brain, once you're off the pills there's a huge chance that's not gonna bee all roses and daisies from then on, not to mention that these appear once at about 4 years, in cycles, so dont put your hopes in pils.

Answer 4

therapy... for sure. BUT if the depression is severe enough then there needs to be some medication too SO that the patient can look through their depression and see that they need help. sometimes help is not obvious to a depressed person. That is where the doc, or counselor, or whoever is overseeing them needs to carefully monitor the medication.

Answer 5

FIRST never judge anyone or anything unless you have been there My life came to a screeching halt when my only brother died 2 weeks later mom has terminal cancer .dad has been gone since 85..its me and only me coping with such loss and knowing you are going to lose mom too ......IT JUST HAPPENS THE WALLS CLOSE IN YOU WANT TO SAVE HER FROM ANY PAIN YOUR HEART BEATS TO A DIFFERENT DRUM YOU ARE HELPLESS AND TO STAY STRONG YOU GET HELP BECAUSE NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR YOU AND YOUR PAIN UNLESS THEY HAVE BEEN THERE THEMSELVES......I AM HERE TODAY because I choose to go into therapy with a REAL doctor..and the meds help me to manage DEPRESSION they do not cure the DEPRESSION . ..addiction comes if you let it.....A TINY PILL IS NOT THE CURE BUT, THE HELP YOU NEED IF YOU LET IT DO IT'S JOB.PROPER CARE BY A DOCTOR WHO KNOWS HOW TO TREAT DEPRESSION COULD MEAN SAVING YOUR LIFE......I NEVER EVEN KNEW WHAT DEPRESSION WAS...UNTIL THAT ONE MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE TAKES YOU INTO ANOTHER WORLD YOU DID NOT EVEN KNOW EXISTED,,,sureilll

Answer 6

First of all, drugs do not "cure" depression, they simply interfere with messages from ones MIND to ones brain so one "thinks" that one is not depressed.

If one can find a therapist who has eliminated the fear that is causing ones depression from within his/her own MIND [less than 1% of all in mental health have done this], then that therapist might be used to help one discover and eliminate that causal fear. The fear is of either rage or grief, of a fairly substantial intensity.

Short of this, simply knowing what the causal is, often helps reduce the depression, since the depression is the result of ones energy being diverted to the repression of the fear of rage, or grief within ones MIND realm. One can begin practicing allowing oneself to experience being angry, and gradually work this up to the level of rage. The grief side is a fear of losing oneself in the depth of ones grief. The rage side is similar, a fear of being overwhelmed with, and forever becoming just rage. Neither is true, of course, but we are dealing with a misperception by ones MIND. And ones MIND just holds the misperception and protects you against experiencing it, it does not judge or question its misperception.

Find a friend who is comfortable with his/her anger, and have this friend "teach" you how to allow this emotional energy to rise within yourself. Remember this!!! At some point in the exercise, you may feel a need to act your anger out [just realize this is an effort by your MIND to dissociate you from your anger], and you will need to resist this impulse, and just embrace your anger as a welcomed part of your own collection of emotional possibilities.

Peace, and good luck