Which path should I take to treat my depression?

Question

I would like to taper off antidepressants and find a more natural way to treat this depression, along with psychotherapy.

Should I seek assistance from a homeopathic doctor, naturopathic doctor, or get into Traditional Chinese Medicine/Acupuncture?

Answer 1

Be so careful treating your depression. Going off medicine will make you cry and feel worse. I would recommend entering therapy before going off med's. and do lots and lots of yoga for relaxation.

Answer 2

Hi Five M. This was an answer I gave to MRS Finleys question. It is a similar question as yours. So i just copied and pasted it. Hope it will be helpful..

--------------------
Hello there.. I have had so many problems since I was 13. When I was 15 I had shingles because of the depression and nerve brake downs. Then age 15 I went to a doctor who wrote me Xanax type of medicine which supposed to make me feel better and more relaxed. I didn't know that doctor gave me that medicine because my mum didn't tell me. My mum wanted to try on herself (she had problems too). The medicine paralyzed my mum for 1 week. This was a side effect (!)

Medicenes has side effects.. A medicine should heal us not put our lives in danger and have SIDE EFFECTS!

So, my advice to you is instead of using medicines, try NLP (neuro linguistic programming). Everything is in our brain. Our brain has two parts. One is conscious and the other sub-sonscious. Sub-conscious is the one that keeps every little detail that we had in the past. The other is the daily things that we remember or we do. So everything is written in our sıb-conscious and the problem lies there without knowing it.

Let me give you an example. People have fobbies. Why fobbies occur? In childhood, or even in mother's womb, we are alive but without knowing or understanding what we are doing. My friend who is age 32, has always been scared of door bells or phone rings. He was always irritated with the sound. He took the session and it turned out that when he was age 2, his parents had a huge fight and his father slapped his mother and at the same time the phone started to rang as well as the door bell. Therefore whenever he heard the bell or phone ringing, his sub-conscious remember it and irritated him. But now he knows where the problem based on and he is not irritated or scared of it anymore. This is only one example.

All big companies use NLP coaches to achieve more and most of the soccer teams has their own NLP coaches to achieve their goals.

This is what I can suggest you. I had self-sessions and now my life has never been better. (it has been 4 years) I am a pro-snowboarder and I had a board accident. I was disabled for 6 months and still suffering but if i didn't had the NLP, I wouldnt survive. I am a person who suffered from nerve attacks, try to suicide, alcohol and drug addiction. Nothing was better than solving my sub-conscious and dealing with my innerself.

Always think positive and try make people happy so that you feel happy.

When our times come, we will all going to other world. So try your best and LOVE, BELIEVE and TRUST yourself.

Hope you will feel better and better everytime you wake up and go to sleep. Good luck with your journey. :)

Load of smiles for you...

PS: I hope I was clear. I am sorry about my english :)
-------------------

If you believe in spiritual treatment, I would suggest you do meditation, yoga, shiatsu massage, and most importnantly REIKI. Reiki is one of the best treatment, if you want to live a positive life. Also my mum is a Transformal Healing Therapist. This is working so good for all of her patients..

Answer 3

my advice would be think about the way you lead your life. You may be leading it in a lavish manner that'll only end in you feeling depressed in the end. A perfect example would be the east and west egg residents in Fitzgerald's book "The Great Gatsby" They had parties all the time and drank way way too much. Things like that may seem fun but when you think about it theres no point to it. If I knew you personally Id have more of an idea. Think, what is it you do? Who do you surround yourself with? How do they make you feel about yourself? What limits do you set for yourself? Could it even be that you subconciously like attention and being seen as the suffering one? (I'm not coming at you, everyone has their reasons for doing everything and everyone doe have their own right to attention. Ill admit that even I at times, amongst my friends feel like I'm not getting enough.) It's very common.

Although we do live in a modern society that likes to impair our youth by making them high off of things such as zanex and addrol and waving the issues of things like depression and ADD off as solved through pills, the solution isn't pain meds. They really do have serious side effects. They can even make you dependant. Nor either, do I think you should see anyone about it unless its soooo terrible that you're even suicidal.

Just think about WHY you're unhappy. There HAS to be SOMETHING causing it. You just have to identify it and deal with it. That or bargain with it if its something you can't change. For example, Highschool SUCKS and I'm so ready to leave this town forever. All the stress form my school life and life outside of school used to give me a negative attitude all the time. However, I've come to realize that the end is near and it'll be over soon and I look at the good things about it. (yeah, because I actually found some! I know, hard to believe isn't it?)
You'll be as happy as you yourself choose to be. I learned that thats actually true. Force a smile and try to be happy and you'll see that after a while it'll happen.
Probably about 90 percent of everything is attitude

Answer 4

Any of the three alternatives you mention can work for you, depending on what is available to you. But do your homework, find the practitioner who has the best reputation. These are *arts* of medicine, and some practitioners are way better than others. You can waste a lot of money if you are not choosy. I am biased in favor of acupuncture, especially for mentational/emotional issues, if the acupuncturist knows what s/he is doing. It's not always the one with the biggest ads or the fanciest clinic.

Answer 5

I would talk to your physician. Holistic Drs are usually not covered by insurance. The trick is finding a Dr that will not dismiss natural remedies as hogwash. Natural Drs dont always ask about medical history. You need to do your research before you talk to the Dr. There is a book called
What your doctor hasn't told you and the health-store clerk doesn't know : the truth about alternative treatments and what works by Edward schneider. It is very informative. Its a good idea to bring the book to the appointment w/you. (I got my copy from my library)

Answer 6

I also weaned off antidepressants a few years ago. I did psychotherapy, and I took yoga classes. Yoga has been proven to relieve depression (along with stress and anxiety). I would highly recommend it to anyone! I have been feeling great wtih no relapses for several years now.
Good luck!

Answer 7

Well,I'd stay on meds if more than one psychiatrist suggested them.It could be a chemical imbalance.Try more than one type.If it's not an imbalance or thyroidism,plain old therapy and writing in journals helped me.It takes a while to be treated...for me,about 5 years,but it's worth it.

Answer 8

Hi,
Have you ever heard of Himalayan Goji Jucie? It is said that constant consumption of goji brings a cheerful attitude. In Asia, it is rightfully known as the “happy berry”.

[e-mail]
www.deanandcathy.gojiteam.com

Answer 9

Chinese medicine has huge success with depression.

Answer 10

I would tend to agree with you. Yes, try to get off the pills. You can try all the ways you mentioned in addition to exercise, regular exercise can help, I know. God Bless You.