What's the Most Effective Therapy For Depression? (pray, prayer)

[Sunstone]

Depression is a very common disorder. What's the most effective therapy for it? Medication? Cognitive therapy? Prayer? Toughing it out? Something else?

[robtex]

how many kinds of depression exist and what are the speculated causes?

[FatMan]

If the depression is due to a chemical imbalance, medication is the best alternative. If it is due to overwhelming grief, medication will only surpress the feelings, but not cure the issues.

Persons who are bi-polar are clinically depressed and meds are about the only thing that will balance their imbalance.

[CDRaider]

Originally Posted by FatMan

If the depression is due to a chemical imbalance, medication is the best alternative. If it is due to overwhelming grief, medication will only surpress the feelings, but not cure the issues.

Persons who are bi-polar are clinically depressed and meds are about the only thing that will balance their imbalance.

Truthfully, the majority of depression is not organic (i.e.-chemical) the majority has functional (social) causes so medication doesn't really work that well.

For people with organic depression the chemical imbalance is permanent. With the functional depression, the chemical imbalance (that is caused by social factors) will vary and wain as the social factors change. This makes the medicine ineffective just like constant mutation of the common cold makes it impossible to cure.

[JMoum04]

Going off of what CDRaider said about chemical depression, the plus side to chemical depression is that as soon as you find the right treatment (it doesn't always have to be drugs either, with the proper amount of self control and coping skills, you can wean yourself off drugs), it will almost always continue to work. The down side is, you're stuck with it for the rest of your life and there's a very good chance you can pass it on to your kids.

[FatMan]

Let me clarify that when I say "medication" I'm not strictly saying medicine, but rather a treatment protocol.

[Bishka]

There is no 'one' cure for depression. Depression can stem from many different places; chemical, heriditary, situational/environmental.

Each an every case of depression is uniquely differnet and requires a different way of helping the person heal.

For example, I can get out of depressions with sunlight and spending time outside, my sister on the other hand has to have medication. We are both from the same family, yet our depressions are very different.

[standing_alone]

The effectiveness of depression therapy varies according to the person and the particular depression they have (and the severity of the depression). What works for one person isn't going to work for another. Probably one of the best things a depressed person can do is seek help by speaking with a psychologist and a psychiatrist - that way they can start on the path to find a therapy that is effective for them.

[spacemonkey]

I usually try to think about people who have things going so much worse for them then I, and then tell myself to stop feeling sorry for myself.