Do it yourself Depression Therapy

 BLOG2

 

Why consider this?

  Depression is a debilitating disorder that for the individual results in unhappiness, misery, despair and in the extreme, self harm.   For the loved ones around these individuals it causes concern, anxiety and a feeling of helplessness. Many people exhibit symptoms for only short periods of time because they are related to a situation that goes away.  For a very large and growing number, this is a lifetime battle.  Adolescents are particularly vulnerable, because not properly treated depression as youths will emerge again when they are adults.

Why Do It Yourself? 

Health plans do not cover the number of visits to a mental health professional that may be required.  For most of the current plans, the number of covered visits is six.  This is sufficient for those with a temporary condition.  For those with chronic depression, it does not come close.  Prescribing pharmaceuticals often mitigates the symptoms but they frequently are not enough.

 

What can be done?

  A proven clinical technique is Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT).  This approach uses the fact that the cognitive part of our brain can overrule the emotional part of the brain and replace appropriate interpretations with inappropriate interpretations.  When supervised by a mental health clinician, the participant must keep data relating to thoughts, interpretations and responses.  CBT has been shown to be beneficial in group therapy.  Individuals derive value from meeting in groups of peers with similar issues.  The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires additional mental health coverage.  It will provide additional covered visits but not enough for an individual to receive individual care for the required length of time.  CBT lends itself to protracted self administered therapy. (The cognitive behavioral workbook for depression: a step-by-step program by Knaus, William J. , Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, c 2006.)  It also lends itself to Group therapy.  This approach could be monitored by a professional mental health clinician.  This approach would require fewer individual visits and much longer therapy time since a provider’s charges would be spread over a larger number of patients.     


Where do we go from here?