Dealing with depression is hardly an easy journey, and it’s not one that you should take on alone. Trying to cure your symptoms without expert help is a recipe for relapse, but talking with your doctor is a good way to keep your symptoms under control to reduce their impact on your life.
If you’ve read this far, you’re probably thinking “well, what kind of doctor should I see for depression?’
It’s hard to know whether your general doctor will work, or whether you should seek out expert help instead. And, if you decide you need expert help, how do you find the right doctor?
Treatment Options for Depression
Optimal treatment methods for depression have changed in recent years. It’s no longer good enough to provide patients with a pill that stifles their symptoms. Depression treatment needs to focus on bringing you back to complete wellness, both physically and mentally.
Relapse rates for depression are staggeringly high (sometimes as high as 90 percent!), which is why it’s so important to develop a treatment plan that brings you back to complete health. Even lingering low-level symptoms can profoundly impact your brain, dramatically increasing your likelihood of retriggering depression.
To have the best chance of beating depression for good, many experts recommend seeking out treatment for at least nine months. If you’ve experienced chronic depression or repeated bouts, you might need therapy for two years or longer to sufficiently prevent a relapse.
Finding the Right Doctor
When looking for a doctor to help you defeat depression permanently, it’s important to find the right one. You’ll likely be interacting directly for months, even years to come, so it’s important that you find someone you feel comfortable with for the long haul.
When faced with depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues, many people seek out the services of a therapist. Therapists receive specialized training that equips them to treat a variety of problems, and they can look at your depression from multiple angles to provide you with a more comprehensive treatment plan.
Finding the right therapist can be anything but easy, especially if you need one who specializes in depression.
Real Life Counseling provides you with a directory of counselors, an expert in treating depression. You can look through our listings of licensed counselors to find the right kind one for you. Check out the counselor list and find the right one to help you get your depression under control for good.